The Shufflers of Light
by Listelia
Summary: A gate leading to dark secrets, flying whales, an old school foe, a disturbing prophecy and words written in bloody letters on their skin... What's hidden under the snow, in the depths of the old land? The foursome are not children anymore and the choice they'll have to face will change them forever. (Happens 7 years after "Bright as Night")
1. The Scarlet Tower

**_**_JUST TO LET YOU KNOW: If you have not read "Dark as Snow", it's fine, you'll still be able to understand and appreciate this fanfic. But if you've never given a glance at "Bright as Night", you'll probably be quite lost, since this story follows up on the events happening during Albus' fourth year at Hogwarts.  
_**_**

* * *

 **THE SCARLET TOWER**

* * *

When the winds were gusting over the cracked white plain, one could almost hear dull voices, as if far beneath the thick layer of snow and ice, ancient giants had been singing a lament.

Once, Terrence had said he imagined them like huge tipsy trolls, toasting with their butterbeer tankards and telling stories of the origins of Time, but Wendy had shuddered at the thought that Muggles drillings could someday disturb these benevolent old folks.

Scorpius, of course, had merely shrugged at the idea of people living underneath floe and gone back to his paperwork.

Albus had said nothing, his forehead leaning against the window, his green eyes lost in the contemplation of the blizzard. Sometimes, a dreamy sigh was heaving from his chest, but he could not explain why.

When there was no storm, the _Shufflers of Light_ valley was one of the most glorious places in the world.

Under the vast sapphire skies, the sun glittered on the white velvety slopes and sparkled on the blue ice edges. In the polar coldness reigned a hushed silence, that was not disturbed by the whining of the flying whales or the barking of the firetailed foxes rolling playfully in the snow. In the middle of the plain, the scarlet _Observation Tower_ looked like the pointy hat of a leprechaun or the tip of the _Hogwarts Express'_ whistle, with small clouds of smoke gushing from time to time from the silver ducts.

Wendy had done a very nice sketch of that sight, which was pinned in the locker room, just above the dischilblaining machine and Albus wanted to send his parents a copy of it, since pictures gave out nothing of the clarity and beauty of the site on which he was working.

It was almost seven years after the rebellion of the Hebrides.

Harry Potter had become Minister of Magic and although there were still some people complaining, overall Britain wizarding community felt satisfied under his rightful leadership. The _Boy Who Lived_ , the war hero, the Auror who had turned to politics, remained a simple and accessible man, whom they knew would never compromise with dark forces.

Ginny was still working for the _Department of Magical Games and Sports_ , but she showed active in galas and charity evenings as the worthy wife of the minister. Sometimes came along her daughter Lily ("A beauty!") who had just finished her studies at Hogwarts. Rumor had it the young lady was going for "a career in fashion." But people were not quite sure what that meant.

James, the eldest son of the minister, had failed to the Auror entrance examination for a reason that only Harry Potter, Teddy Lupin and Ron Weasley knew. After this painful experience, James had packed up a bag and gone hitchhiking for over a year. From brooms to flying carpets, in the _Knight Bus_ , hot balloons, gondolas, steam trains and ships, he had finally found himself in Sicily, where his natural charm and his clever patter had put him at a key post in the trade with the Cola Clan of fishmen.

Wendy Philips, Terrence Swanson and Scorpius Malfoy were still close friends.

They were the only ones in the world – except for Harry – to know the truth about Albus.

It had been during their seventh year, while in internship in Brazil, that his three friends had (re)discovered Albus' secret, when he had changed into his other self to save Terrence from the bite of a _fer-de-lance_ snake. Wendy had sulked a bit - Scorpius _a lot_ \- but ultimately they had been relieved to learn that Toothless - _Albus had never managed to make them understand it was_ not _the real name of the dragon_ \- was still alive.

That may have been why Scorpius had finally yielded to his father and entered the ministry. The Unspeakable he would become after ten years of service to the government could effectively protect the greatest mystery of Britain. For now, after two years in the _Office of Disinformation_ , he had asked to be transferred to the South Pole where he served as a liaison officer, which allowed him to keep an eye on both his friend and on a certain Miss Phillips.

The dauntless girl had finally gathered her courage and opposed the future planned for her by the almost invisible businessman to whom she gave the name of father. Encouraged by the old butler Barrie, she had chosen her own destiny. Once she had received her magical mechanical engineer diploma, she had been assigned to the Observation Tower for her first job and if her relationship with her stepmother had not really benefited from it – _Madame swooned just thinking about a young lady of her class with hands full of grease_ \- however the distance had helped soothe it.

Several _Quidditch_ teams had made offers to Albus at the end of his studies. They wanted him as a Seeker or a Chaser, and his mother would have wanted him to follow in her footsteps and make a name in the national sport. He had undeniable talent and it was not every day people were quarrelling over a player with such a handicap. Even Harry almost wanted his son to accept, if only for the changes in mentality this could have brought to the still full of prejudices wizarding community. But the second of the Potter children had politely refused. Quietly, without ostentation, as he had always done, he had walked on his own path. After two years of training, he had brilliantly completed his magizoologist studies, then had applied to Antarctica and left England to study the behavior of the magical wildlife of the white continent.

Terrence had joined his three friends six months later. He was far from having completed his studies - even though his genius brain put him five or six steps ahead of the other students - but he had already obtained a first cycle license, which allowed him to perform the functions of a healer in _Inlandsis Station_ while doing his third year boarding internship.

And that was how the 'Inseparables of Hogwarts' were now all standing at the ends of the world.

Everything was fine so far.

But things never stayed peaceful long when these four were together.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Wendy was coming back from the boiler room, wiping her hands on a rag when she heard the airlock heavy doors unlocking, then someone hitting his boots against the step. Her triangular face lit up and she climbed up the spiral stairs four at once, stuffing the cloth in the front pocket of her gray overalls.

 _He's back!_

Five floors above, Albus was taking off his cloak and hanging it on a golden bear claw-shaped peg when she barged in the lobby covered with threadbare crimson tapestry.

\- "Hi there", she managed, a little out of breath.

She absentmindedly rubbed at the carbuncle shining at the tip of her left eyebrow, and pushed behind her ear the short brown hair sweeping on her cheek.

\- "Yo", the young man replied, turning to her with a smile.

He was much taller than her, now. Still slender, but his shoulders were a lot broader in his black turtleneck sweater. His hair was tousled and his nose red from the cold. A soft shadow darkened the male line of his jaw. Tears of frost were clinging to the long lashes hemming his green eyes.

\- "Were you at _Crystal Tusks_ _Crest_?" she asked, crossing her arms and leaning casually against the wall next to the mirror, while he slipped his hands into the dischilblaining machine.

\- "No, I went to S _arcophagus Cove_ ", he said, taking off his boots lined with fur and his thick woolen socks. "I wanted to see if I could spot one of the pink balls of soot looking spider crabs that Calcifer mentioned."

Wendy turned away chastely when he pulled up his trousers to remove his prosthesis and drag his stump in the machine which cared for frostbite.

\- "Do you think they also came through the Axis?"

Albus sat on the bench and put back on his wooden leg when the disembodied voice of the machine told him he was fine, but he would be a complete nitwit if he kept bathing under ice.

\- "You've gone _under water_?" whispered the girl reproachfully.

He gave her an apologetic wince.

\- "Crabs or whatever they are, they don't live on dry land, y'know", he mumbled. "I had to go get them in their natural habitat. Don't worry, Dewis had it under control."

Wendy only snorted, doubtful.

He stood up, ruffled her hair and started up the spiral staircase covered with a bottle green carpet. The glossy mahogany banister was rising up wrapping around wrought iron railings, like in a luxury hotel.

\- "In any case, if they came through the Axis, it's no big deal", Albus said with a light tone. "Muggles are less likely to come across them than to fire tailed foxes that have _nothing to do_ in the South Pole. I'd be more annoyed if it were polar bears suddenly showing up..."

\- "Don't you dare wishing so", muttered his friend, rolling her eyes.

They were climbing the stairs in a transparent blue tube shimmering under the cold sun of Antarctica. The huge gold-rimmed windows were letting in so much light it made them squint.

The Observation Tower included fourteen floors on which were distributed the researchers' offices, common rooms, dormitories, labs, the galley and the boiler den. You could not apparate here for some reason and the station was stocked every four months by hot balloon: boats could not reach that far through the floe.

It had been built a hundred and fifty years earlier and was the farthest outpost in the southern hemisphere. Only British wizards were studying there. Other nations had also been interested in Antarctica at the time of the great scientific cooperation established by the Muggles in 1957, but their passion had quickly faded - and with it the funds allocated to the onsite teams. Magic governments of other countries had preferred to invest more in the North Pole, as it was not "only a chunk of ice for penguins to play toboggan," like Scorpius' father used to say disdainfully.

As for the team here, they had a very different opinion on the matter.

The ice contained more secrets than you could imagine - the biggest one being the exact location of the Axis and the most mysterious the disappearance of the Shufflers of Light.

 _And then, there was also the existence of Calcifer..._

Albus took a small golden key from his pocket when they reached the seventh level, where his office was.

\- "Tonight, I bet we'll have a flight of humpback whales. Winter solstice has come", he said.

\- "Are we already the 21st of December?" asked Wendy, surprised.

\- "Christmas is in four days", Albus said in a slightly muffled voice, while opening the door and letting her in. His cheeks were flushed as if he had suddenly thought of something embarrassing.

She did not notice a thing, went across the room and leaned over the slim cases carefully classified in a box near the old phonograph.

\- "So… did you find any of those sea spiders that look like the soot balls creatures that make Euphrosine mad?"

He pulled from his pocket a small jar and lobbed it to her while heading to the library. He looked for a book while carelessly waving his wand at the kettle and cups gathered on a tray placed on the round table in the lounge area, next to aquariums and vivariums lit by greenish glows. The water began to boil, a spoon bounced in the air. The tea box cover popped up and sugars rattled while the cups were scrambling to be served first. A blue chipped one managed to get to the best spot and let out a contented sigh.

Wendy looked a moment at the bristling small ball of pink foam, curled up at the bottom of the jar filled with sea water, then put it on a stack of encyclopedias. She chose a record, put it carefully on the round platform and slid the diamond tip off her finger.

In his office, Scorpius looked up when he heard the swing music engage.

 _Ah. He's back._

He smiled, dipped his quill in the ink and went back to his report, blowing to get rid of an almost white blond wick falling on his right eye. His hair was shaved on the sides of his skull, his bangs slicked back carefully as if he were about to attend a meeting at the ministry. He was wearing an impeccable three-piece dark suit and a perfectly ironed white shirt on which he had pulled black cuffs to protect from ink splutters.

Under the table, one of his polished shoes was marking the rhythm of Benny Goodman's song.

\- "Well, they _do_ look alike... Do you think the Axis is somewhere underwater?" asked Wendy on the floor below.

Albus shook his head, as he came back to her with a huge book.

\- "Nah, the fire tailed foxes wouldn't have survived if they had come from under the ice", he mumbled, turning the pages. "They must have come by land. I think I'd better give another look at the volcano. There're may be bones or something..."

The girl nodded. She grabbed one of the cups that was waddling in the air and waved off the too eager sugar jar.

\- "Ha!" Albus exclaimed, pointing to an illustration. He plopped himself on the edge of his desk, next to his friend. "I knew I had seen it somewhere. Let me see: ... _At that time, we often saw strange will-o'-the-wisps mingling with the lights dancing in the night sky and opinions were divided between two schools. Some talked of fallen stars, others of fire creatures sprung from the depths of the Axis..._ uh, let's see... _characterized by wide eyes_... _woolen balls similar to sea urchins_... yes, maybe ... _disappeared during the fourth winter_... who wrote that?"

He pulled a face.

\- "Rina Kettlery. Not the most reliable magizoologist there ever was... she was afraid of chickens and couldn't have cleaned the litter of a cat for the life of hers..."

Wendy had a sip of hot tea.

\- "Well, it's true you're better at this than anyone", she smirked. "You do have _a gift_ with animals and magical creatures..."

He gave her a nudge, then laughed and sent back the book to the library with a flick of his wand.

\- "You know what, I'll put Christopher on it", he said excitedly. "Perhaps he knows where to find amber residues. If we could find one of those things trapped in a piece of rock, it'd be a huge step forward."

He dipped his lips in the chipped blue cup to find his tea was almost cold and whistled the teapot which rushed to bring hot water.

\- "He won't like your nosing in his field of study", snorted Wendy who could not stand their geologist colleague.

The swing song ended and the diamond tip snapped up, siding on the edge of the device. For a moment the room was silent, except for the rustle of the record still running on empty.

Wendy was not moving, perfectly happy with the warmth of the shoulder against hers, in the kindly light of the ending austral day. Albus was sipping his tea, deep in thought.

In the largest aquarium, two icefishes were passing by each other, blinking, transparent and iridescent as fairground trout.

\- "Are the boreal Omnioculars repaired?" the young man asked after a moment. "I think I'll watch the flight of whales from the observatory. It's freezing out there."

He cleared his throat.

\- "Do you want to join?"

Wendy blushed.

\- "Hum. Well, erm, yes, why not?" she stammered, burying her chin in her big yellow wool sweater.

She had a strangled chuckle and shifted uneasily. Albus gave her a somewhat puzzled look and stood up. He took the jar with the spider crab and was about to go around the desk to sit behind the microscope made of golden circles and glass balls, when they heard the characteristic wooshing sound of the airlock doors, then the hurrying steps in the stairs of someone who had not taken the time to stop at the dischilblaining machine or take off his snowy boots.

Seconds later, a young man with long blond hair tied in a ponytail, wearing round glasses on his aquiline nose and a white coat under his cloak lined with fur, barged into the office.

\- "AL! Muggles at the Japanese station became ill after handling leopard seals!" he panted. "And guess _where_ they were taking samples? On _Ogre Island_!"

There was a loud crack, then a sullen house elf, with big bat ears stuffed with gray hair and a hooked nose, materialized at the door.

\- "Maybe our _excellent_ healer could stop _howling_ and making drafts", he scowled. "Calcifer and Miss Euphrosine were already in a terrible mood this morning, one do not need them to..."

He did not have time to finish his sentence. A terrible roar cut him off and the whole tower was shaken in a cloud of snow. The trembling cups hid under a towel and the ice fish buried themselves in the mud of the aquarium.

Then everything went quiet again.

\- "Sorry, Pepper", spluttered the newcomer with a wince of apology to the elf who rolled his eyes under his big hairy eyebrows. "But it _was_ important."

\- "It _always_ is", groaned the creature.

A door slammed upstairs and the exasperated voice of Scorpius echoed in the stairwell.

\- "I hope it was worth it, Swanson! There's ink all over my report and I was supposed send it by _Gorfou Express_ in an hour!"

\- "The report was about to need rewriting anyway!" called another voice from below, cheerful and soothing. "Can everyone gather in the common room? Matilda has just made an amazing discovery!"

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter : Sea Flowers & Strange Fellows_**


	2. Sea Flowers & Strange Fellows

**SEA FLOWERS & STRANGE FELLOWS**

* * *

The least one could say about them was that they were not ordinary.

The team members of _Inlandsis Station_ were very different and sometimes clashed, but they were complementary and knew it.

They were all gathered around the long table in the common room of the tower: a big green velvet upholstered dining room lit by two golden chandeliers laden with glass pendants. The blinds were drawn on the large oval windows that offered a stunning view of the valley.

The man who had called them was the wintering leader. His name was Günter Von Wartbach and no one knew his exact age: perhaps fifty, maybe twenty years younger or older. His gray hair was tousled, his eyebrows bushy. He had almond eyes which twinkled behind his round horn-rimmed glasses, a weathered complexion, high cheekbones and a constant smile. He always spoke softly and pleasantly. Thin and not very tall, he often stood with his hands clasped over his shabby robes and held his shoulders up, like a squirrel about to confide a secret. He was very sweet but easily managed to be obeyed - probably because he knew better than anyone how to distribute tasks and enhance the strengths of each of them. He had come to Antarctica over thirty years earlier and had never left since. He was a linguist and an anthropologist, but his title was a bit of a joke to the team as he only studied ice ghosts and remains of astral civilizations.

Next to him was a grumpy house elf, dressed as usual in a tartan kilt held by crossed straps on his concave chest. Pepper belonged to no one but he was devoted body and soul to Günter. He often said that he had been forcefully freed thirty-two years before. From the grumbles of the annoyed little creature, Terrence had deduced that Pepper had worked for Hogwarts and had someday inadvertently picked up a cap knitted by a loony student. The elf kept a grudge against the well-intentioned young girl who had "thrown him to the streets in shame and misery." He had refused the offer of the headmaster to keep working at the school while being paid and had gone off... to Hogsmeade, where he had met Von Wartbach during a storm snow. No one knew what exactly had been said there, but ever since Pepper had sought to follow the scientist everywhere. Günter paid him a galleon a week - _directly on his account at Gringotts_ _bank_ \- and Pepper was certainly very rich, since he was too afraid of goblins to go withdraw his own money. He acted charming - or at least, almost friendly - to Wendy and Scorpius, but was constantly nagging Terrence whom he found too noisy, too excited, too careless. And, inexplicably, he was perhaps the only magical creature in the world to have no sort of affection towards Albus.

Left to Pepper was sitting the elf's second favorite person: Euphrosine Howler. The magicologist - or _magician_ , as she preferred to be called - was a bent and stooped old woman with cracking bones and rusty joints. She had a hooked nose, deeply sunken cerulean eyes, a skeletal face wrinkled like a thousand-years-old willow, a broad and bony jaw. She often moistened her thin lips and almost lost her false teeth when she got angry. She had on her head a white tuft of hair tied back in a short braid spiking up on the neck and she spoke in a quavering voice like a fairy tale witch. She always wore an old-fashioned blue dress with a belt that disappeared in the thick folds of her waist, and she hobbled up and down in the tower on her short legs much faster than one could have imagined from a woman with such a broad and flabby breast. _Miss_ Euphrosine Howler was the oldest in both age and time spent in the Observation Tower. There was no one better informed about paranormal activities in the South Pole or the evolution of magic in the last three centuries. This living library was, however, an obstinate character and her fits of temper were feared by all, including Calcifer.

Set on a high stool like a sculptor's model, Vivienne Drake offered a stark contrast to Euphrosine. The astronomer had - _or had not, bets had been open for over a year now_ – Veela blood running in her veins. Her carmine red hair cascaded over her shoulders in soft curls and her puffed bangs hid one of her coy eyes. She had fluttering eyelashes, impossibly long legs, an alluring neckline, creamy skin, a little round face with delicate ears and full lips painted the same flamboyant tone as her perfect nails. Always molded in a dress at the limit of decency - _a heat spell cast on your clothes could easily allow you to dress as you wished to_ – her curves swayed elegantly on her high heels and once in a while she let out an amused sigh. Vivienne was far from being a fool and knew exactly how to end the irresistible attraction she exercised over males when she wanted to be recognized for her work rather than her natural charms. Some rumors said she was married to a vampire, others to a werewolf, and some people whispered her husband was cursed by a giant octopus and sailed across the oceans aboard a bewitched submarine. Wendy did not think much of all this: the Veela and her had become the world's best friends on the day the young mechanic had discovered they had both been raised by a stepmother from the "high society".

On the other side of the table, Christopher Cadwallader was checking his notes sulkily. Terrence and Scorpius hated him and only just hid it in the presence of Günter Von Wartbach for whom peace was a priority. The geologist was twenty-three years old, so two years older than the four friends. He was in his sixth year at Hogwarts during the Rebellion of the Hebrides and had been particularly cruel to Albus when he had come back to school. " _Forget Potter the whimp, greet Potter the limp_ " was only one of many distasteful ditties Christopher had composed. He and his buddies had quickly realized how Scottish humidity was a pain to the handicapped boy and they had multiplied the already too many ditches and gutters. At that time, umbrellas were more useful _inside_ the castle than outside. James had tried to beat him up, but Cadwallader had managed to look innocent and the elder Potter's bad reputation had not helped him during his confrontation with a student from Ravenclaw who had always been irreproachable. When Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, things had become even nastier. For some reason, Christopher seemed allergic to the idea that a disabled person could lead a life as normal as possible.

When he had arrived in Antarctica, a few months earlier, Terrence had feared he would start bullying Albus again, but nothing had happened – _so far_.

To wrap up, Cadwallader was not bad looking and he could have been considered handsome if he had smiled from time to time, showing his well-aligned teeth, or stopped displaying a sullen pout. He had slightly wavy brown hair, athletic shoulders and a discrete scar on his jaw. When he was "rambling about his dear stones" - _as Scorpius used to say with a snigger_ – pure passion shone in his heavy-lidded chocolate eyes.

Albus had not lost hope of getting along with his old enemy and he was sitting precisely next to Christopher to listen to Matilda's report.

\- "So… w-well", mumbled this one, trying to pull from the paternal gaze of Günter the strength to speak in public. "I... well, I mean... we f-found a p-plant."

There was a moment of tense silence, as if this were of crucial information.

 _It was not, however._

Matilda Shrew was a biologist, it was _her job_ to find _plants._

The last member of the team was a skinny young woman who looked like she had just been through a spin-dryer. If Vivienne had Veela blood, perhaps Matilda had Mermaid blood. Her long black hair fell over her face like seaweed, her complexion was pale - with the exception of acne pimples budding all over her forehead - and her feet certainly could have been mistaken for flippers. She wore enormous short-sighted glasses and a purple dress. Half of the time, she gnawed at her nails or fiddled with the seam of her pockets.

\- "What kind of a plant?" Albus asked gently when the wait became too uncomfortable.

Matilda shot him a grateful glance. She fumbled in her files and among test tubes she had brought and placed in front of her on the table. Eventually, one of the tubes fell off and went crashing to the floor in a crystalline sound. The invertebrate murky greenish thing it had contained starting to crawl away, while the young woman was losing herself in frantic apologies.

Euphrosine rolled her eyes in exasperation, but it was her who caught back the creature with a flick of her wand and stocked it momentarily in a teacup.

\- "Go on, Matilda", encouraged Vivienne. "Is this plant going to teach us more about the location of the Axis?"

Terrence was wriggling in his chair, holding back with great difficulty from interrupting the slow scientist to explain himself all the conclusions he had drawn from this discovery.

Scorpius was taking notes. Pepper had disappeared in a flicker, then reappeared, once the small pond of sea water cleaned under the table.

\- "We took s-s-samples in t-t-the Ocean, a-after the v-volcano erup-p-ted. We f-found mic-c-croscopic o-organisms looking like snow f-f-flakes."

Matilda wiped her long wet hands on her dress and carefully picked up a glass globe. She slipped it into one of the golden hoops of the _Occhiolino_ , then lit the candle inside the machine with a nervous flick, while Günter was plunging the room into darkness with an deluminator.

On the white sheet spread on the wall was floating something that looked like a dandelion or a flattened jellyfish.

\- "This is a m-marine _asteroline_ ", explained Matilda, shuddering as if she was face to face with something terrifying or majestic. "It's o-only the second time we were a-able to c-c-collect one in one hundred and f-f-fifty years of s-studies."

\- "Let me guess", Christopher said gruffly. "Last time they found one, it was _before_ the fire-tailed foxes came from the North."

\- "We..." began the poor Matilda whom Terrence did not give time to finish.

\- "Exactly!" He completed in an excited voice. "And now, the best part! The leopard seals that live off the coast of _Ogre Island_ are covered with hundreds of these flowers and _that_ is what made the Muggles sick. That means the Axis must open somewhere beyond the _Crystal Tusks_."

\- "I always thought _Shufflers of Light Valley_ was where the gate opened", said Günter, thoughtfully scratching his chin. "This changes _everything_. If the passage is in the part open to Muggles, then..."

\- "Then we'll have to revise our whole policy on scientific cooperation with them", Scorpius said gravely. "It won't be easy. We might even have to consider disclosing our existence to them."

There was another tense silence, then Albus stood up.

\- "Maybe the currents have led these plants to the coast", he said. "Or maybe they are just signs that the Axis will open soon. I don't think the gate opens underwater, really. The fire-tailed foxes, the quality of the stones Chris found at the _Whale Carcass_... "

\- "Just stick to your critters", cut sharply the geologist.

Wendy was about to snap back when Vivienne's melodious voice rose in the dark.

\- "I think Albus Severus is right", she said.

She waved her wand and a map of stars appeared on the ceiling in sparkling purple stipples. Seven of them were shining more brightly than the others and the young woman caressed them.

\- "Orion", she whispered. "This is the constellation from which we learned the existence of the Axis, long before anyone noticed exchanges between the two poles. Three stars apart from others, for three impossible places, and a nebula called the _Breath of the Shufflers_ in ancient scriptures... I think we should continue to look beyond the _inaccessible_ coast."

Günter activated the deluminator and all lights went back to the lamps. Pepper snapped his fingers and blinds rolled up, revealing through the giant windows the white expanse of the plain, colored in pink as if the sun had spilled there a glass of champagne.

Night would soon fall.

\- "For now, everyone focuses on his evening duties", said the team leader, putting on each of them his gentle but firm look. "Tomorrow, we'll compare our notes, in light of this new information. No rush. _One step at a time, even only half a step if necessary_. This was the spirit of our predecessors and the Shufflers of Light came to them. We'll find the gate to the Axis – when the time comes, if so is our fate."

Euphrosine nodded gravely, her blue eyes indecipherable, deep in their sockets. Her wrinkled face seemed more tense than usual, and Terrence gave her a sharp look, wondering if it was because of the discussion or just because Calcifer and his mood swings were giving her a hard time, down in the boiler room.

Matilda hurriedly gathered her scrolls and samples, almost forgot her asteroline and failed to break some new test tubes when she tripped over a fold of the thick green carpet that ran under the long table. Wendy came to her help and the two girls left the room together. Christopher came to Günter who was deep in thought, standing by the window and began to talk to him.

Scorpius had left with his notebook, presumably to write his report on the day and Pepper was gone - probably to the kitchen where, having never succeeded in losing his house elf habits, he was preparing the next meal.

Albus decided he was not going to wait until Cadwallader was done monopolizing their team leader and he went up the spiral staircase to the top of the tower, to verify his instruments before his night of whale watching.

Terrence caught up with him halfway.

The sun was glinting on the windows and ignited the snowy crest separating the valley from the Muggles' plain.

It clearly was colder under the crystal dome, even with the heat released into the pipes by Calcifer or the spells cast on their clothes.

The two young men spent a long time cleaning the gigantic lenses, without exchanging a word.

Then Albus suddenly let out a snort.

\- " _We_ found a plant?" he muttered derisively.

Terrence walked around the padded seat that stood on a pedestal in the middle of the observatory while transforming his dusting cloth into a bird of prey. The fabric falcon swooped on his friend who easily got rid of it.

\- "I was just coming back from the Japanese station with a sample from the sick men when I came across Matilda and her asteroline", Terrence protested. "We compared our findings and... that's all."

\- " _That's all_ ", smirked Albus.

He fled to the door of the observatory, arms protecting his head and fled to the round terrace bordered by an ebony railing, where his best friend caught him and hanged himself on his back.

When they were done fighting for fun, they just remained standing, looking at the billions of stars twinkling softly, so clear, so far above their heads, in the vastness of Antarctica skies. Their breaths puffed into small clouds, and they soon began to shiver, one simply wearing trousers and a sweater, the other barely protected by his white lab coat.

Albus closed the door behind them with his wand, then patted Terrence's head. His friend returned the favor. The heat that flowed in their members like a sip of hot chocolate made them sigh contentedly.

\- "I love magic", Terrence said with delight, leaning on the snowy railing.

Albus did not answer right away.

\- "Still you shouldn't hang around those muggles", he finally said, in a tone of mild reproach. "Imagine they..."

\- "There's no way they'd suspect a thing", assured Terrence with a shrug. "I used the snowmobile Wendy bewitched and I even put on one of these frightful overalls they use. For a Muggle-born like me, this kind of infiltration is a piece of cake, Al."

He took in a deep breath and continued calmly.

\- "By the way, you know... Pepper. He's a house elf."

\- "I _might_ not be as bright as you, but I _did_ notice", Albus replied in a mocking voice.

Terrence waved off the joke impatiently.

\- "No, I mean... I've been thinking. It's not normal that he's not attracted to you."

\- "Maybe I'm not his type", tried his friend as if to drop the subject.

\- "Blimey, Al ! I'm not kidding! _Listen_. Either he discovered one way or another you were Hermione Granger's nephew, either..."

\- "Either?" Albus repeated with a shudder he could not suppress.

\- "Either... _You_. You shouldn't have gone diving under the floes, today", Terrence said, frowning. Then he lowered his voice: "Either he is immune to _the_ gaze. You know nobody can fight long against the influence of a dragon's..."

\- "Shh! Have you lost it or what?" Albus hissed, casting a worried glance around him. "This is nonsense. It's _impossible_ ..."

\- "No", Terrence retorted, his eyes gleaming behind his glasses fogged by the cold. "Do you know how much time Pepper spends in the boiler room? _Hours_ a day under Calcifer's stare. Calcifer who knows more than anyone about the Shufflers of Light..."

Albus' green eyes widened.

\- "Do you think they are..."

Terrence rolled his eyes.

\- "Really, Al. I've never seen someone this slow", he sighed. "They _must_ be. Maybe they're an ancient breed, or another species, but... the legends Günter studies, the sketches in Euphrosine's books, and... do you remember what you said? About how you _felt_ when you first came here?"

\- "Like if I was... _home_ ", Albus whispered.

\- "Yep. I bet Pepper is immune to your charm because he spent hours staring into the eye of _another_ dragon..."

Albus leaned on the railing as well, as if he needed something to hold on to while he slowly realized what meant his best friend's words.

The night was perfectly silent, if you were listening absently. But if you focused a bit, you could hear all sorts of sounds in Antarctica. The floes were crackling dully, the waves were rustling against the ice. A fire-tailed fox was yelping far away in a sudden gush of golden sparks. The wind was moaning, slipping into the rifts, as if it was playing with a translucent flock of birds.

Albus closed his eyes.

Sometimes when he was asleep, he could hear heart throbs, somewhere deep under the snow - a familiar sound, reassuring, echoing through the tower as if someone was answering to his own heart beats.

The icy breeze brushed his face and he buried his chin in the collar of his black sweater, humming softly.

\- " _Hey, dragon, you don't have to do this_..."

Terrence smiled and joined him.

It was a silly song, but it reminded them of old fond memories. They had learnt it from Darren, an Auror who had fought in the Hebrides alongside them.

\- "... _You never asked to be a dragon, I never asked to be a champion_..."

In the night, their not-quite-in-tune voices carried away laughter and emotion and were flying to the stars like an offering to the past.

\- "Your little duet might get us in troubles, mates", suddenly said the stern voice of Scorpius behind them.

They turned at once, answered with a synchronous nod to his frowning. He shook his head and shrugged. He walked over and leaned casually on the railing next to them.

\- "... _The truth is in the end, I'm nothing without my friends_..." he went on without looking at them, a wry grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

Wendy opened the door a few minutes later and had a small snort. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes.

\- "… _Let's reevaluate our options, throw away our old presumptions_..."

She was back on the cold and windswept island. On a yellow hill, the high and dark figure of Darren stood out, whistling as he contemplated the moors spotted with black crosses.

\- "... _All I can do is sing a song for you_..."

She sighed.

 _It was so long ago… yet still so close._

In the darkness of the Tower, on the other side of the glass door, a crooked small shadow was standing in the bluish moonlight, and two large yellow eyes shining like burning suns were listening to the boys.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: Flying Whales_**

* * *

 ** _There are many references to other books and films in this chapter, and you'll see more as we go deeper into the story. I meant it as a tribute to works I really admire and love, and it also brings unexpected twists to the readers' interpretation of the plot, which I totally adore!_**

 ** _Will you find them all?_**

* * *

 ** _Hints for this chapter:_**

 ** _Nankyoky Tairiku ; AVPM ; Howl's Moving Castle ; The Golden Compass ; Who framed Roger Rabbit?_**


	3. Flying Whales

**FLYING WHALES**

* * *

Wendy knew she had to be patient. Their relationship was already complicated before the Hebrides and it had not gotten simpler after Albus has returned to Hogwarts.

 _Oh, you could say they were dating, yes. He did kiss her. Sometimes._

She remembered each of his kisses.

The first time on that night filled with the bittersweet scent of sardines, in the common room dimly lit by the fireplace, when they were fourteen years old... On platform 7 ¾ in _King's Cross Station_ , in a swirl of cherry flowers upon the morning they had returned from the war... then at the end of the Christmas party, under the nargles-infested mistletoe in the Potter's living room, when everyone had been gone to bed - _or_ _so they had thought: Arthur Weasley had suddenly cleared his throat behind them..._

One evening in March of the following year, she had found him alone in the aviary. He had nestled against her. His lips tasted salty, as if he had quickly wiped his tears before she had come in... The day they had won the _Quidditch Cup_ , amid the din of screaming Gryffindor students and exploding red and yellow firecrackers, he had impetuously lifted her in his arms and kissed her under the lion-shaped hat that Craig Finnigan had thrown in the air in the general euphoria... During the internship in Brazil, too, during that famous night when Terrence had almost been killed: rain was dripping down their faces and lightning sometimes illuminated the darkness and the trees torn by the wind...

Then they had gone their separate ways to study: him to the _British Institute_ of _Study of the Behaviour of Fantastic Wildlife_ of Nottingham, her at the _School of Magical Mechanical Engineering_ of Brighton. Wendy could count on her fingers their dates: most of the time they would just walk holding hands in the busy streets of London or along the gloomy swamps of Ottery St. Catchpole, talking about their trainings and good old Hogwarts - but never of the future.

She had invited him to the Ball given in May by her stepmother and they had hidden in a bush of roses to gossip about the guests: she was wearing a strapless swan feathers gown and had just cut her hair. Albus' hand had grazed her bare neck, playing with the clasp of her pearl necklace, and she had swallowed wrong a sip of champagne. He had come to Brighton for Halloween and they had watched together the flaming sun sinking into the cold sea at the pier, their fingers intertwined quietly in the pocket of his long black coat. On New Year's Eve, both wearing woolen caps knitted by Molly Weasley, they had gone shopping to _Diagon Alley_ , breathing in the air filled with cinnamon, oranges and ginger fragrances...

Then she had graduated and received her first assignment.

A cloud of white gulls plaintively crying was surrounding them. The smell of fish was mingling with that of tar in the harbor bathed in pink and golden light, for their seventh kiss in front of the huge red and black steamer that would take her to Antarctica. A siren had sounded loud and Wendy had pulled away from Albus' arms to run to the bridge, throwing her duffel bag over her shoulder. He had beckoned to her, hopping on the dock, and she had waved back with a smile, tears streaming down her cheeks.

England's cliffs were gradually disappearing in the mist when, seeking a handkerchief, she had found in the pocket of her waxed coat a shell chirping like a little bird, wrapped in a piece of parchment on which it was written "I love you".

 _It was only the second time he was giving her these words._

For a whole year, they had only been able to write to each other once in a month. She used to send him sketches and he would slip horned ostrich feathers or bream scales in his letters.

When Albus had finally arrived in _Inlandsis Station_ , she had hoped that maybe... but nothing had changed.

He was maddening - and yet she felt her heart melt. He was yielding to his heart, came closer, put his lips on hers and she was breathing intensely... then weeks passed by with him showing nothing more than a deep friendship for her.

Last Christmas - _the first they had celebrated together in Antarctica_ \- they had found themselves alone in the common room crammed with dirty plates and empty butterbeer bottles. Scorpius and Terrence were not yet there. The two of them were the youngest and the others had gone to bed - with the exception of Pepper who had gone down to the boiler room to see Calcifer and "perhaps offer him a firebrand or a turbaned piece of rind bacon" had giggled stupidly Wendy who had drank a drop of firewhiskey in Günter's glass by mistake. A silver ribbon was stuck in her hair and a sugar penguin pinned to her dress was singing " _Jingle bells_ " in a falsetto. Albus had laughed with her. He had come to take from her the stack of cups that threatened to collapse... and then she had found herself, not knowing how, kissing him passionately.

Somewhere in her brain was flashing a warning, like the defective light on the third floor, but she had decided to ignore it completely.

Albus' hands were warm, strong and soft and he smelled good – of soap, whipped cream, apple pie and cane sugar...

But then suddenly he had taken off his hands and stepped back, red as a tomato and a little breathless.

\- "I... _erm_ … we… we shouldn't be – doing this", he had gasped, his green eyes filled with a bunch of conflicting emotions.

Wendy had shivered in the suddenly much colder room. She had straightened the strap of her dress, blinking. Her neck was burning and her hands were clammy.

\- "I'm sorry", had mumbled Albus, and _that_ had been too much.

She had not realized she was crying until a warm drop had rolled down her chin and fallen into her wrinkled dress.

He looked dismayed.

In the common room now filled by a heavy silence, the sugar Penguin kept shouting loudly in a shrill voice.

\- "... _what fun it is to ride and siiing_..."

Wendy had had to muster all her courage to speak.

\- "I understand", she had uttered, even if she wanted to scream.

 _"Why? What are you afraid of? I'm here! I won't go anywhere! I'll stay by your side no matter what happens. I promised you! Don't you remember?"_

But perhaps only the dragon remembered the words she had spoken under the butter-colored moon, during that night, almost seven years earlier...

Albus had left the room without another word.

The next day he had behaved as if nothing had happened and it was not until summer and an unfortunate sliding with the sled in a rift of ice, that he had again acted like a proper boyfriend, holding her close and whispering help would come quickly, while showering her hair with light kisses.

 _Albus was an idiot._

 _And she was one too, because she was still waiting._

Wendy knew _why_ he behaving this way, but she would rather have him let go and let _her_ protect him. _Of course_ it was not easy to share his soul with a dragon named Dewis or to turn twenty-one years old and to be one-legged. However she had seen him pay this price to protect the world and _never_ would she be ashamed or afraid of him.

Voldemort was no more and the Anghenfil was dead, but Albus kept on acting as his father had done before.

The resemblance between him and Mr. Potter ( _"Call me Harry, will you, Wendy?" as would say the Minister of Magic with a friendly smile_ ) had become even more obvious during their seventh year, when their classes had finally be about the Wizarding Wars. These were not good memories. They had been traumatized by the life story of the spy Severus Snape, disgusted by the actions of the government, confounded by the boldness and courage of the Resistance, terrified by the Death Eaters' cruelty. Although the exact role of the Malfoy family was not really defined in their school books, Scorpius was livid half the time and slept almost as bad as Albus whom had terrible nightmares of death masks, piercing screams, sardonic laughter and snake hooks dripping of blood. Terrence, who had a special access to the library restricted section signed by Neville Longbottom, had done extensive research on what their textbooks did not explained: for example, the real reason why Harry Potter had survived _twice_ to the killing curse. Professor Flitwick had almost fainted when Terrence had asked him bluntly at the end of a class what a _horcrux_ was. The genius boy had been summoned to Headmistress McGonagall's office and when he had come out, he was white as a sheet.

He had not said anything to Albus whom he did not want to upset further, but he had told Wendy and Scorpius about what he had discovered, and many things had explained themselves: the frightful dreams, the extreme empathy, the images that could not be memories. It was only after their internship in Brazil that they had understood they were wrong: _no_ , Harry had not inflicted the curse he had carried for seventeen years to his own son. But _the dragon_ felt intensely the emotions of those Albus loved - and the bond he had with his father was probably the strongest in his life.

Now, in _Harry Potter's Life & Combat_, on page 695, the author explained in detail how the hero of the wizarding world had broken up with Ginny Weasley just before the war, in order to protect her from being targeted by the Dark Lord…

It was a no-way-out situation and Wendy hated it. She enjoyed repairing, patching up, restarting, making things and people work out. The confusion and helplessness with which she struggled in their relationship deeply annoyed her and her frustration resounded with every step as she went up the winding stairs to the observatory.

 _"Relax, girl. Maybe Terrence was right when he said coming to Antarctica was probably the best thing that could happen to Al – even if so far nothing really changed. Maybe_ this _Christmas won't be a complete disaster..."_

At the top of the tower, she pushed open the heavy oak door and entered. It was dark and tiny white flakes were sprinkled on the crystal dome, like a glinting blue lace reflected in the black marble floor. Albus had his back turned. He was sitting cross-legged on the big padded chair, a woolen cap pulled over his unruly hair. He was wearing a sleeveless jacket lined with fur on his sweater and was adjusting the settings of the giant Omnioculars.

Wendy's breath puffed up like a small cloud of translucent mist. She buried her chin in the raspberry scarf Hermione Granger-Weasley had sent her and hopped to the chair, rubbing her forearms with her hands. Despite her angora mittens and even with a heat spell, it was still very cold at night in the observatory.

\- "Yo", she greeted.

\- "Yo", Albus replied, his eyes still glued to the viewfinder. "Well done, Babbitty Rabbitty. They're like new. I can even see a flock of Trillers surfing in _Moonrock Bay_."

\- "Thank you", Wendy muttered, feeling a ridiculous puff of pride ignite her ears. "Did you already spot a whale?"

\- "Nope. Not even the shadow of a bump yet."

\- "If it was a joke, that was not funny", she teased, taking out her wand to change the chair into a settee.

She sat next to him and pulled toward her another telescope.

Far out there, on the icy and opaque sea, the foam curled in silver filaments with regularity. Birds with translucent wings were fluttering at the crest of the waves, calling out in melancholy trills and their echoes were reverberating on the dark coast. The stars were twinkling, as if waiting for something.

\- "I keep thinking of the asteroline… do you believe the Axis will _really_ open?" Wendy asked after a while, almost in a whisper. "How can we be sure it's not a myth?"

Albus took his eye off the viewfinder and looked at her. He reached out, curled a finger on one of the short brown hair sticking out of the girl's pink beret.

\- "I _know_ it's true, he said with a smile.

She pushed his hand with a little impatience. He did not say anything. He just looked away and she wondered if she was just imagining the slight blush on his cheekbones in the bluish darkness of the dome.

\- "We didn't come here in vain, Wendy", Albus continued. "We came here to _learn_ and I'm pretty sure we can only discover one secret after another because it's too big for mere mortals like us – or too mad, maybe. Do you know what Euphrosine's books tell? That Magic was born here, thousands of years ago... can you imagine? It's like... a sacred place..."

When he spoke like this, it was almost as if she was listening to the dragon's voice.

She had not heard it again since the night Toothless had flown for the first time - the night she had discovered everything - but the deep, humorous and wise voice was engraved in her memory.

 _The dragon never lied._

 _And he knew ... much, much more than what he let Albus glimpse at sometimes..._

 _The Axis._

She had heard about it from Day 1 in _Inlandsis Station_. She was down in the boiler room, after staring into Calcifer's gaze for the first time – _highly uncomfortable: like staring at two unfathomable coals in the purple flames licking the onyx stone_ _hearth_ – when Günter had asked her to give a look at the vehicle built by their predecessors: an enormous golden pumpkin, with long jointed legs and a crystal windshield.

\- "What's that?" she had asked, lifting puzzled eyes towards the old man.

The team leader had smiled gently, but almost mischievously, like if he was about to tell her a secret.

\- " _This_ , my dear", 'he had whispered excitedly, " is what will allow us to go down into the Axis when we have found the gate."

 _The Axis._

 _A mysterious road opening from time to time between the North Pole and the South Pole. A tunnel filled with wonders and knowledge. A passage leading to the heart of Earth, of Magic, of Life._

 _An explanation - or, to phrase it like Terrence,_ a lift _for the Artic fire tailed foxes, that should have never been found in Antarctica._

All scientists in the Observation Tower believed in the Axis and were seeking proofs of its existence, watching out for signs its gate would open soon.

And maybe, this year, the miracle would happen.

\- "... and that's why I think it's true", concluded Albus, and she realized that she had not listened to a word he had been saying.

He glanced at her, amused, far from being fooled, then pressed again his eye against the Omnioculars while she was flushing red to the tip of her hair.

\- "Ah!" he exclaimed. "It's starting."

She rushed to the bezel and bumped her nose against the golden bolts covered with a thin layer of frost.

Far away in _Moonrock Bay_ , bubbles were gathering under the dark surface of the ocean. Water suddenly gushed out. The grainy body of the first humpback whale rose in the air whirling on itself in a drizzle of bright drops. A second followed and its white belly flashed briefly in the clear night. Then a third, then ten, then sixty, and soon the sea was brewed by hundreds of whales with wrinkled skin encrusted with seashells. They were flying off one after the other like in an ancient dance, as if the stars were calling them.

Their large serrated fins relied on air effortlessly and their broad glistening tails propelled them slowly towards the infinite vault, in harmony with their songs: the soft soprano voices of the females, the benevolent baritones of their males, the reedy calls of their young playing around.

They went above the crescent shaped ice mountain that had given its name to the bay and ascended regularly to the stars, in a quiet herd. A flood of birds with translucent wings was rustling alongside them, like a ribbon of silver light. A calf scattered them with a sudden gush of steam, then slipped under the belly of his mother.

Albus chuckled.

\- "Look at this little fellow", he muttered.

Wendy was filling her eyes with the marvelous sight of the humpback whales flying away in the night studded with stars.

\- "Where are they going?" she whispered.

\- "They're migrating", explained the young man, keeping his eyes on the magnificent creatures. "They're changing hunting ground, so to speak. Well, they only eat krill, but you get the point. They'll go beyond _Cape Pendragon_ , but they'll come back with the next solstice."

\- "Good", said Wendy, "the other stations are not likely to see them if they are going in that direction."

\- "Good indeed", Albus groaned. "To think it was only in 1883 that the Ministry of Magic prohibited using them as flying transportation... I dread to imagine what Muggles would do if they knew about them..."

He suddenly coughed in his elbow. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve then went back to his watching of the ballet of whales.

Wendy shot him a worried glance.

\- "You caught a cold", she said, disgruntled.

\- "I didn't", Albus assured. But he failed to suppress a long shudder. "I'm _fine_."

\- "Sure you are", she retorted, looking for her wand to revive the heat spell.

In the distance, the herd of whales was gliding along the slopes of a glacier and their fantastic shadows ran on the shiny surface.

\- "Wendy?"

She looked up, surprised by the change of tone in his voice.

\- "What?"

He was no longer looking in the Omnioculars. He had turned to her now, and was fidgeting with a button on his jacket.

\- "Erm... on Christmas Day..."

He paused, stared at her as if he feared she would get angry. She just raised her left eyebrow and the carbuncle pinned there shone briefly.

\- "Yeah?"

\- "If you can make some time... on that day", he continued hesitantly. "There's something I'd like to tell you..."

She did not have time to answer or ask a question. A swarm of golden grains she only knew too well suddenly billowed in front of her and she found herself alone with Albus' other soul.

Her eyes widened: it had been a long time since the transformations had come unexpectedly. In the old times, this would happen when the young man was overwhelmed by intense emotion: fear, joy, despair - or when he was hurt or feverish.

\- "Al?" She called anxiously. "Are you sick? What's happening?"

The black furry dragon was almost as big as the entire dome and seemed bothered by the observation instruments. His silky wings were folded, his leather muzzle slightly cringing, his big golden split green eyes looking surprised and a bit worried.

Wendy felt her heart melt.

\- "Hi, Toothless", she said lightly.

 _How could someone so old and so wise look this childish and lost? He sometimes had the same innocent or sulky expressions than the eleven years old Albus she had met on the Hogwarts Express..._

The dragon sniffed and sneezed – an adorable _a-a-a-tchiii_ but so powerful that all sheets pinned on the bulletin board unhooked and dispersed into the room - then came waddling to nuzzle against the hand offered by the girl.

\- "What are you doing here?" Wendy chided affectionately. "You'll get us into trouble! Your existence is supposed to be a secret..."

The dragon cooed an explanation that made no sense, purred some when she scratched his throat, then turned towards the door to the terrace with a keen gaze when a whale whining echoed across the plain.

\- "You want to go flying with them, isn't it?" Wendy laughed. "But it's too dangerous, mate. Albus is not supposed to make observations from _this_ close..."

The dragon smacked his chops like if he was chortling, then narrowed his golden split green eyes and crouched with the evident intention of jumping through the dome to go join the aerial cetaceans ballet.

\- "Oh no, no, _no_ , not a good idea", Wendy protested feverishly, fishing her wand deep in the front pocket of her overalls.

\- " _Evanesco_!" she cried, a split second before he pounced.

The dome evaporated and the dragon dived into the night, opening his large black wings in a flurry of snow.

Wendy looked at him for a moment, then her teeth began chattering.

\- "What a mess", she sighed, burying her chin in her thick raspberry scarf and bringing back the crystal roof with a resigned flick of her wand.

She was about to pick up the sheets scattered everywhere on the black marble floor sprinkled with tiny white flakes, when she realized the oak door was opened and someone was standing in the rectangle of light.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: Bleeding Words_**

* * *

 **References to find in this chapter:**

 **Fantasia 2000 ; Mushi-shi ; Doctor Who.**


	4. Words In Bleeding Letters

**WORDS IN BLEEDING LETTERS**

* * *

Wendy dropped the stack of sheets she was holding with a small yelp.

\- "G-Günter!" she squeaked, casting a distraught glance towards the night sky. "You... did you come for whale watching, too?"

The team leader stared at her for a moment, eyes enigmatic behind his round glasses. Then his thick eyebrows softened and he grinned.

\- "I'm not quite sure we can call _observing_ what our young friend is doing at the moment", he said with a chuckle. "I reckon he's just _playing_ with the whales."

Petrified, the girl watched him come in under the dome, his hands clasped behind his back. His worn-out robes swept over the notes scattered on the dark marble floor. The starlight was giving a silvery sheen to his messy gray hair.

\- "Amazing, is not it? They don't seem frightened at all by his presence... Yet they are fish, so to speak, and he is very much a big cat."

Wendy wanted to say something, but her throat was dry, her tongue heavy like lead and in her empty mind flashed in loops "ohmygoshwhatarewegoingtodoheknows."

Far from there, over the blue walls of ice, the black furry dragon was racing with flying baby whales, in a haze of steam and snowflakes.

\- "This report is going to be interesting to read", said Günter, eyes lost in the marvelous sight. "I always wondered _how_ he could be this precise, come this close to creatures known for their shyness or extreme fierceness..."

He turned to Wendy.

\- "Everything has an explanation in this world."

The girl winced and her frozen panicked state changed to feverish anxiety.

\- "S-s-sir, please..."

He waved his hand, clearing his throat.

\- " _Sir_? You're not in school anymore, my child."

Wendy stepped forward, her fists clenched, her voice trembling.

\- "Günter, you can't... if anyone finds out... it'd be awful... this... please, we must continue to keep it a secret..."

He shot her a penetrating look.

\- "How many people know about this?"

\- "Four", she stammered, feeling her eyes fill with pleading tears. "Terrence, Scorpius, his father and me."

The man shook his head.

\- "I don't think so", he corrected. "Probably twice as much. Calcifer knows - _nothing_ is hidden from him, especially not something like _that_. What Calcifer is aware of, Pepper knows too and Euphrosine will soon guess…"

He smiled gently.

\- "And then there's me too, now. I must say I am quite relieved I wasn't hallucinating when I saw this dragon wading in _Sarcophagus Cove_ , this afternoon."

Wendy stifled a groan.

\- "Everything will be fine", added Günter quietly, heading for the rectangle of light cut on the floor in front of the oak door. "I don't think it's necessary to tell anyone else for now. Be kind enough to tidy the observatory dome before one of our colleagues starts to believe a squall blew in here."

He stopped on the threshold. His eyes were twinkling behind his round glasses.

\- "Ah. Wendy, when he's back from his _outing_... could you tell Albus I'd like to have a chat with him? There's no hurry. Tomorrow morning would be fine."

She nodded.

\- "Then, good night", concluded the team leader.

He left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the dome in a darkness studded with stars.

Wendy allowed herself to breath. Her throat had been so knotted it was hurting. She snorted ferociously, glancing at the whales that were disappearing in the distance like a handful of black sand thrown in the wind.

\- "Oh, _great_ ", she muttered. "That's all we needed... clever, Al."

She liked the magician, although she was a bit afraid of her, and she doubted the old woman would betray such a serious secret. If Günter kept silent, so would do the house elf. _But the problem was..._ she tried to drive out of her mind the two ember-like eyes that had probed her when she had arrived at _Inlandsis Station_.

 _Calcifer..._

 _If he had known from the beginning, why had he not say a thing? What was he intending to do with this information? Would he be an ally or an enemy...?_

Calcifer was unpredictable and dangerous, capricious and manipulating, a creature as old as the dragon, but his high-pitched voice put you at ill-at-ease, like a wayward child who would have had full power to destroy you...

Now that she thought about it, they had been naive to think Calcifer would not see through Albus.

She bit her lip a little too hard and nicked it. Sucking the bruised skin, she quickly finished tidying the room, then left the dome after a last glance through the Omnioculars. The whales and the dragon were no longer in sight.

She went down to her bedroom without meeting anyone, changed in her pajamas and crawled under her blankets. She fell asleep right away, despite the worried and angry questions storming in her mind.

It was the unpleasant plop-plop-plop of a not properly closed tap that woke her up a little after midnight.

She sat up and yawned, rubbed a hand over her face and opened an eye, pulling the warm and fluffy blankets on her.

\- "Ha!"

It was not a tap.

It was from one of the stalactites hemming the giant round window of her room. The dragon was hovering on the other side of the glass and his breath was fogging the crystal.

Wendy sighed and took her wand on her nightstand.

\- " _Evanesco_ ", she ordered for the second time that night, rolling her eyes.

Icy cold air, a huge mass of fur sprinkled with frozen drops and a swirl of snowflakes rushed into the room, then the glass rematerialized without a sound.

The dragon climbed on the bed that creaked horribly under his weight and started kneading the mattress.

\- "If you set the bed on fire, I'll kick you out", Wendy warned sternly.

He answered with an indignant cooing, then settled down, taking all the space, his furry paws folded under his fluffy black ruff. He yawned widely, showing off pink gums, blinked once or twice.

\- "Cozy?" Wendy grumbled. "Did you have fun? It was cool, but you forgot your keys?"

She chuckled even if the squatter was totally ignoring her, nestling his head under his wing.

She yanked out the crumpled blankets and dried them up with magic. Upon reflection, she began blowing heat on the wet black fur and the dragon, not even lifting an eyelid, started purring like an old engine.

\- "You're welcome", Wendy scoffed, amused.

She put her wand on the bedside table and cuddled up in her blankets, next to him, in the tiny space left on the bed.

\- "Sweet dreams, Toothless", she mumbled, giving a small punch to the plump belly of the dragon who was already completely oblivious to the world.

Moments later, she was deep asleep again.

The night was quiet, motionless as a painting in cold colors under the twinkling stars. Not a sound, not a breath. Then the wind rose up in a light whitish spiral and ran over the back of the old continent. The Antarctic sighed and settled more comfortably in the dark and icy waters.

Tiny sparkling bubbles were gathering under the surface in _Moonrock Bay_ and a pale light was gleaming in the depths of the sea.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Dawn came slowly, crowning in gold the mountain crests of _Crystal Tusks_. It lay down in _Shufflers of Light_ Valley like a veil of multiple shades of pink. Ice droplets on the window briefly sparkled with iridescent sheen, then a ray of sunshine began tickling Wendy's eyelid. She waved it off, turned to the other side with a grunt. Her face sank into the pillow. Drool was running down her chin.

\- "Moo..."

She pulled an arm out of the blankets, groping blindly, and accidentally knocked her wand off the bedside table.

\- " _Axchio_ w'tch", she chewed, without any result of course.

The tower was filled with the delicious aroma of coffee and grilled sausages. Voices and porcelain noises came from the dining room. Someone was stumping down the winding stairs in a half-wake state.

Wendy cracked open an eye, unwilling to move, huddled in the pleasant warmth of her blankets.

\- "Time to get up, Cheshire Cat", she yawned.

Except there was no more dragon in the room.

\- "Ah!" she cried, sitting down so abruptly she nearly tore off the curtains of her four-poster bed.

Albus' long dark eyelashes did not even quivered. He was breathing softly, his lips a bit parted, stretched out full length next to her with a hand under his head. He was still wearing his black sweater from the day before and the same trousers, but he was missing shoes. His wooden foot disappeared into the folds of the blankets, the other was wearing a sock of questionable color.

Wendy smiled tenderly. She stroked the unruly curls of his friend and brushed his cheek with her fingertips.

\- "It's morning, sleepy head."

He mumbled something unintelligible, curled up like a cat. There was something childlike in his irresistibly peaceful traits. She leaned over, put a furtive kiss at the corner of his mouth, then slipped out of bed quietly.

\- "All right. You can sleep some more, champion. You'll have a busy day..."

She dressed quickly, gave a short brush to her short brown hair and shoved her wand in the back pocket of her jeans before leaving the room and gently closing the door.

In the hallway flooded in morning light, she met Günter and replied with a tight smile to his nod of greeting. They heard an angry shout two floors up above, then Koff, the mini ice monster that looked like a bundle of Yeti fur with two small horns, rushed down the stairs with an excited "rrr-trttr-pppr-anta-rrapan-rrrr" and almost knocked them down in the process. Five seconds later, Christopher Cadwallader was hurtling down the steps, his face still plastered with shaving cream and his hair spiking in all directions.

\- "Come back here, you little pest!" he was yelling. "Give it back at once!"

He disappeared in chase of the thief around the corner of the ramp and Günter clasped his hands behind his back.

\- "Mirror?", he offered with a chuckle.

\- "Razor", Wendy suggested.

It was a very ordinary scene in the _Observation Tower_. Koff was like a magpie on the lookout of anything bright. He was able to swallow without blinking a knife or a ring or a candy wrapper. Muggle things had his preference, but he did not show picky in front of a magic spanner either, forcing Wendy to treat all her tools with the _Antidigeste Varnish of Dr. Chompers_.

The noise had woken up Scorpius and pulled Terrence off the stack of encyclopedias on which he had fallen asleep the night before. The apprentice healer put on a clean white coat and splashed his face with cold water, then jogged down to the dining room. He met on the way the government agent who was finishing buttoning his neatly pressed suit and greeted him with a morning breath smelling of Mexican chips.

Scorpius raised a delicate eyebrow. He was about to make a sarcastic remark about his former classmate's hair, when Wendy's bedroom opened.

\- "Yo", Albus said, stifling a yawn. "What's with the racket? A new skit from _Koff & Chris_? Ter, that hair fork makes you look like an anglerfish."

He sat on the stairs to put on a pair of socks that were too small for him, which he stretched a few sizes bigger once he found the formula scribbled on the label.

He did not see the almost painful wince on Terrence's face nor the upset flash in Scorpius' eyes. When he looked up, his two friends were ready to make fun of the red nosed reindeer adorning his socks.

When they came in the dining room, it was chaos, like every morning.

Vivienne was drinking her tea in small sips, settled in a cushioned chair near the window, her beautiful legs crossed one over the other, her silk bathrobe artistically draped to give free rein to imagination. Matilda was perched on a stool at the long table and was munching crackers, her flabby black hair falling on her face, surrounded by crumbs and milk spills. Christopher had stuck Koff in between his knees and was trying to fish something out of the throat of the hairy creature with barbecue tongs. Wendy was whistling to the top of her lungs, two fingers in the mouth, to get the attention of the pancakes dish swirling insolently around the chandeliers. Günter held away his coffee cup, trying to convince the sugar jar he did not need an extra spoonful. A sponge was rubbing the sausages pan in the bubbling sink, the kettle was singing on the red zinc stove, toasts were jumping one after the other in the toaster then piled up on a plate making the Parthenon. A bewitched transistor was broadcasting a happy scramble of languages and songs from the different muggle stations located in Antarctica. Sometimes the voice of the presenter from _Kerguelen Wizarding Radio_ emerged in the commotion and was thrilled to introduce umbrellas 'to make rain or sun shine' or waterproof tubes for mail by _Gorfou Express_.

Pepper was about to gobble down a portion of red beans nearly as big as his head, holding his spoon like a trowel, when the three boys entered. He looked up, his hand froze for a moment and then, as Terrence glimpsed a flash in the bulging eyes of the elf, he went back to wolfing down his breakfast with unsavory noises.

Albus took a bowl on the sideboard and sat next to Wendy on a basic kitchen chair, while Scorpius was getting a tea bag, not caring about the Empire chair that had pushed the other seats to come stand behind him.

\- "Good morning, you three", said Günter who had finally gotten rid of the sugar jar. "Slept well?"

\- "Yes, but not enough", yawned Terrence, dragging a pair of fried eggs on his plate. "I'd like to go back to _Ogre Island_ , to get more samples from the Japanese and make new analyzes."

\- "Fine by me", the team leader agreed after a thought. "Scorpius? Could you go with him?"

The young man with almost white hair nodded. He was twirling his spoon in his steaming porcelain cup, absently watching Koff who was spluttering out bits of glass. Christopher was half drowned in Yeti drool and seemed about to push his barbecue tongs at the bottom of the mini-monster's throat, more by vengeance than necessity.

\- "Albus", Günter continued, "what are your plans for the day?"

Wendy stiffened, her mouth full of pancakes, but before her friend could answer, the door swung open and Euphrosine barged in.

\- "Naughty bunch of mites!" she blurted. "Creepy crawling gremlins, little devil seeds!"

Without greeting anyone, she stomped to the stove, lit it furiously with an imperious flip of her wand and rolled up the sleeves of her blue dress. Her apron was mottled with soot and her crooked nose was smeared with charcoal.

\- " _Accio_ Eggs!" she barked, and the box of eggs swished from the fridge to her like a rocket. " _Accio_ Bacon!"

Two slices whizzed up to her, soon followed by the butter which grazed the forehead of Matilda, who let out a strangled squeak.

\- "Good morning, Euphrosine", Günter greeted pleasantly. "I see you're in a cheerful mood. Troubles down in the boiler den? Calcifer being a handful, perhaps? Or maybe you came across a riddle?"

He glanced at Wendy who did her best to ignore him.

\- " _Humpff_ ", grunted the old woman who was beating the bacon sizzling in the pan with a wooden spoon. "Calcifer will be a dear when he's done laying eggs. It's the Shadows Nibblers who are a _problem_. Something woke up last night and they're all over their silly little heads with excitement."

She filled a chipped bowl with bitter black tea and turned off the stove.

\- "You're missing the tip of your ear", pointed out Pepper, who had gotten up and was looking at something on the floor.

\- "And I had to stun them _twice_ before they would stop! Do you get how _serious_ it is!" Euphrosine scolded, putting down her bowl on the table so brusquely some tea spilled on Scorpius' impeccable shirt. "These little pests will put anyone coming down to the boiler room in great danger! But we _need_ to know what Calcifer will read in the egg! Otherwise..."

She shut up suddenly, as if her teeth were welded. Widening her eyes, she seemed to struggle a moment with words that did not want to come out of her mouth, then she dropped into a chair that creaked painfully and began to wolf down her eggs and bacon as if the fate of the world depended on it.

The others were looking at her in bewilderment, but Günter and Pepper shared a worried glance, then the elf disappeared in a snap of fingers.

\- "Christopher, I reckon we're going to need your help", said the team leader, turning to Cadwallader who was staring, miserable, at his finally rescued watch that was half chewed and covered with slobber. "We won't be able to appease the Shadows Nibblers' hunger without a good amount of lava rocks. I heard you found an old mine?"

\- "Yeah", groaned the geologist. "Near _Whale Carcass_. I'll go get some more."

\- "Have breakfast first, though", Günter kindly advised. "Was this watch dear to you?"

\- "Nah, it was just a trinket", the young man muttered, glaring at Koff who was happily panting beside his chair like a dog ready to play. "But he's only doing that to _me_. I hate it."

Terrence and Scorpius snickered. Albus was licking the marmalade's spoon. Wendy was wondering if anyone wanted the last scone.

\- "Vivienne, Matilda, your plans for the day?" Günter asked, turning to the two women.

\- "I'm going back to bed", announced Vivienne, throwing over her shoulder her thick crimson hair with a languid gesture. "The stars were capricious last night. Something felt wrong."

\- "I-I 'm going to _C-c-crystal T-tusks Crest_ ", the biologist mumbled, pushing her thick glasses up her nose. "To... erm... well, to g-get… herbs."

She shut up and blushed violently.

\- "Good", Günter said with a slight frown, but he did not push the issue. "Albus, I..."

He was interrupted by a big sneeze of the magizoologist before Wendy could intervene and excuse Albus out of the room.

Terrence handed a handkerchief to his friend to wipe his dripping nose.

\- "Well", said the healer with a stern voice. "I believe Mr. Potter will have to make a stop at the sickbay before doing _anything else_."

Their team leader seemed about to protest, then thought better of it.

\- "Well, I see everyone has enough to fill their day", he said. "I'll let you go about your business. One word, however. In three days, it'll be Christmas and on this occasion, the Ministry of Magic has allowed us to open a channel of communication with the B.A.T.S. headquarters in London. Our families will be invited and we'll have the opportunity to take turns to talk to- "

He was cut this time by a torrent of applause and enthusiastic exclamations. Matilda burst into tears, which made her pimples turn a deep purple. Vivienne started speaking of her complexion, of a curling iron and of the foul weather that was drying her mascara. Terrence danced a sort of jig with Koff who was sniffing the pens in his white coat pocket, Christopher's cheeks flushed up, Wendy and Albus were talking at the same time. Scorpius seemed even paler than usual and his eyes were terribly bright.

Only Euphrosine kept quiet, munching her toasted bread. Her wrinkled face, hermetic, reflected sadly in her tea bowl.

Günter looked at her but said nothing. He clapped his hands to bring back the calm and dispersed his troops to their respective tasks. Wendy dragged the boys out of the room before the team leader could remember Albus and when they were safely alone in the sickbay, she told them in a low voice what had happened on the roof.

Scorpius was the most shaken by the news. Albus, strangely, seemed almost relieved. Terrence began a sentence about a forgetting spell, but Wendy silenced him hastily. Finally, they came to the conclusion it was better to await for the outcome of the chat with Günter before making a decision.

\- "I thought Pepper was giving us weird looks this morning", concluded Terrence. "Maybe he doesn't see things as clearly as Calcifer, but if the dragon showed up without warning last night, it must have troubled the... I don't know, the essence of magic? I'm sure elves can feel things we can't fathom."

Wendy shuddered.

\- "Don't talk about things like that", she protested. "Don't you think there're enough mysteries in Antarctica?"

One arm crossed on his chest, Scorpius was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

\- "Your father is the highest authority of the wizarding world, so I think he can stifle leaks easily", he said finally, turning to Albus who was perched on the leather bed in the middle of the bright room. " _What_ worries me is Calcifer. He is sneaky and clever, and I don't reckon he has any affection for anybody."

Scorpius had hated his encounter in the boiler den. He kept a stinging memory of the words the creature with glowing eyes had told him during their time alone.

\- "Do you believe he…"

He paused and furrowed his eyebrows.

\- "Al, you okay? You're really pale."

Albus shook his head with a smile.

\- "I didn't sleep much, that's all", he said apologetically. "Last night was fun."

Wendy rolled her eyes tenderly, but the other two did not seem to appreciate. Terrence opened one of the white pine cupboards and took out his stethoscope, a small milky sphere and a bottle on which label was drawn a skull blowing steam through the ears.

\- "Come on, off with your clothes", he ordered. "I bet you're coming down with a bad cold. Let's end this now."

Wendy muttered something about a broken freight elevator and slipped out while Albus was pulling his sweater over his head. Scorpius crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, next to the skeleton hanging from a hook.

The sickbay was a furnished with very sober way, with some closets, a dresser and stools, all in peach and lemon sorbet shades. Glass carboys filled with various substances were arranged on the pristine shelves: eels' eyes, porous sponges, powdered herbs, dried claws and bugs still quivering. Sheafs of sage and lavender were hanging from the ceiling with sparkling clean utensils that looked a bit disturbing. Several iron beds were lined up against a wall, separated by white curtains and bucolic countryside paintings in which were frolicking blissful lambs and smiling gargoyles. The floor was made of some rubbery material, warm and sweet, which washed perfectly. There was a frame turned face down on the desk, from which came muffled grunts - _Terrence did not particularly get along with his tutor_. Various posters were telling you how to survive without losing too many limbs by minus 80°Celsius. Candles were giving to the room a somewhat syrupy scent of eucalyptus and it always reigned there a pleasant temperature. In the middle of the sickbay stood the leather chair that easily transformed into an examination bed and sometimes gave its opinion on what was ailing the patients.

Albus tossed his sweater to Scorpius who caught it with an annoyed huff, then unbuckled his belt.

\- "I'm fine, Ter", he snuffled. "It's just that chicken pie from yesterday supper; I think I had a few feathers stuck in my throat."

\- "Chicken yourself", retorted his best friend who was washing his hands in a water bucket mounted on three legs. "We had rabbit."

He wiped his hands on a cloth then came to the bed, pulling his stethoscope from his white coat pocket. He began by listening to the back of Albus who complained it was cold and who squirmed.

\- "Stop fidgeting", Terrence scolded. "I hear two hearts."

\- "Either you've got wrackspurts in your ears or the stethoscope's not working", Albus giggled, taking off his trousers and letting them fall at his feet.

\- "It's the one Wendy gave me when I passed my healer exams and she had bought it from your uncle Weasley's shop, in their new _serious_ ward."

Terrence paused for a moment to contemplate the stethoscope thoughtfully.

\- "Apparently it's developed from their _Extendable Ears_. You know, that old spy toy they were selling when we were kids?"

\- "My mother says this stuff is only good for cats", Albus said. "I don't know. James always tried to use them to listen to Dad and Uncle Ron when they were working in the office upstairs, but we could never hear anything."

Scorpius snorted.

\- "We've gone beyond the simple _Muffliato_ since a long time at the ministry."

Albus chuckled. The candlelight was casting warm shadows on his slender shoulders and his feline body. Terrence rounded the leather bed and listened again to his friend's chest.

\- "I think you're somewhat congested", he said, finally putting away the stethoscope and sticking a thermometer in his patient's mouth. "A bit feverish, too, I bet... I'll give you a potion to fix this, but... it's – weird."

\- "What's weird?" Scorpius interjected curtly.

Terrence knelt down and unclipped the prosthesis. His fingers lightly felt the stump, then he attached again the wooden leg and stood up.

\- "It's a little swollen", he said, preoccupied. "Does it hurt?"

Albus shrugged.

Scorpius bit his lips.

\- "Don't play hero, Potter, tell the truth", he growled.

Terrence ran his hands on the young man's sides. He pressed his thumb under the armpits, palpated the stomach and then his fingers brushed the flower-shaped scar, smooth and pink on the sternum.

Albus could not hold in a cry of pain and the thermometer fell on the floor with a small sound of broken glass.

Terrence took a step back, very pale.

\- "Do you hurt _here_?" he mouthed. "Since when?"

\- "Since now", gasped his friend. His knuckles were white from squeezing the edge of the bed and his forehead was beaded with sweat. "When you… touched it..."

Scorpius had run to them, looking both anguished and furious.

\- "What's happening, Swanson?" he scowled. "Did you..."

His breath was suddenly cut by a sharp pain piercing in his left arm, and he fell to his knees.

Terrence moaned and his hands vainly tried to get rid of the horrible burning throb at the base of his neck.

Albus was curled up, eyes half closed, to fight against the pain blossoming in his chest.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the feeling disappeared and the sickbay bathed in soft light became again a peaceful cocoon.

Panting, Scorpius straightened up. He unbuttoned feverishly the sleeve of his shirt, rolled it up and stared at what he saw with widened eyes.

\- "What's that?" Terrence mumbled, rubbing the stinging spot at the back of his neck. He bent down, leaning on the bed. "Can you look at mine? Al. What is it?"

His best friend stayed silent for a moment, then swallowed hard.

\- "You've got it too", he rasped.

The other two shared a worried glance, then turned to him.

Albus slowly took off his fingers clutched on the scar. He drew in a deep breath, looked down...

And, as he had feared, he found on his chest the same bleeding word that was engraved on Terrence's neck and Scorpius' left arm.

 _RENOUNCE._

In the library, Euphrosine was breathing heavily, holding close her right hand on which were blistering the same eight letters.

On the wet mat behind the airlock doors, his teeth still clenched, Christopher had removed his snow boot and was staring, stunned, at the painful sole of his foot.

Deep down the Tower, the house elf was chanting softly in front of the onyx stone hearth, his arms outstretched as in adoration and his lids closed on his bulging eyes.

A red rocky egg was standing among the crackling embers.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: Calcifer's prophecy_**

* * *

 **References in this chapter:**

 ** _Doctor Who ; Howl's Moving Castle ; Spirited Away._**


	5. Calcifer's Prophecy

**CALCIFER'S PROPHECY**

* * *

When Matilda came back from _Crystal Tusks Crest_ , soaking wet because she had slipped into a snow hole, she was trembling but more of excitement than because she was cold. She quickly took off her boots and cloak, slipped the wrong feet in her slippers and, pushing back her long black hair, rushed up the spiral staircases, holding tight her precious discovery. She barged in the common room out of breath and gasped when someone grabbed her.

\- "There you are!" yelped Vivienne anxiously. "You okay?"

The girl's eyes widened behind her thick nearsighted glasses.

\- "Y-yes", she stuttered. "I'm f-fine. B-better than fine! I f-found a..."

She cast a bewildered look on the grim faces of her teammates gathered around the table and paused.

\- "Thanks to Merlin", said Günter, pushing his round glasses up on his nose.

\- "S-something ha-a-appened?"

Christopher rolled his eyes.

\- "Well, _yes_ ", he groaned. "The tower is haunted and we were attacked."

\- "W-what?" Matilda squeaked.

Cadwallader was soaking his foot in a tub filled with ice. Euphrosine was massaging cream into the blistered skin of her right hand. Terrence was pressing a frozen pack on his neck. Scorpius had a wet towel wrapped around his left arm. Wendy was dabbing with a damp cloth the chest of Albus who had a blanket thrown over his shoulders.

Pepper was nowhere to be seen.

\- "Actually, we were not, strictly speaking, _attacked_ ", corrected Günter, trying but completely failing at being reassuring. "Something sort of _showed up_ , but I don't think it meant harm."

\- "Let's wait and see, though", Christopher grumbled. "Coming friendly and hot iron tagging your interlocutors seems a bit contradictory."

\- " _A bit_!" Scorpius repeated in an outraged tone.

\- "In the end, Calcifer knows what it is, apparently, and we'll know more when Pepper comes back from the boiler den", hastily added the team leader.

\- "O-o-oh", Matilda stammered.

Vivienne took her by the arm and made her sit next to her.

\- "What have you brought back, love?" she asked.

Matilda's face brightened. She carefully unfolded the handkerchief she was holding close to her heart and placed it on the table.

\- "I found it at the foot of _Crystal Tusks Crest_ ", she chirped. "I had n-never seen one for real. It's beau-ti-ful..."

Everyone leaned forward to see better and Terrence gasped in surprise.

\- " _Lacrimae Solis_ ", explained the young biologist, beaming. " _Snow Flower_ , also c-called _Tear of the Sun_ , it's extremely rare and..."

\- "And it definitely doesn't grow in Antarctica", Günter completed.

On the polished wooden surface, the delicate white flower was shimmering softly and its gold lined petals seemed to throb as if they were alive. Matilda had not cut it, she had dug around to root out it off the ground, but the bulb was not dirty. The thin blond roots looked like frosted hair.

\- "It's the same", breathed Scorpius.

\- "I know", Albus said softly.

Wendy raised an intrigued eyebrow, then her eyes widened and she let go of the wet cloth.

\- "Oh."

Christopher shot her an annoyed glance.

\- "What now?"

\- "Nothing", said Terrence, quickly picking up the cloth and pressing it again on his best friend's chest, hiding the word engraved in fire letters and the flower-shaped scar.

\- "Nothing", Euphrosine groaned at the same time. "Pepper's here, we should listen to what he has to say."

Pepper was not here, but he turned up the moment she finished talking, as if he had waited for a signal.

\- Has Sire Calcifer something to tell us about these words that appear from nowhere?" inquired Vivienne, throwing back her long red hair

\- "What about the Shadows Nibblers?" Günter asked. "Can we go down safely?"

The elf puckered his nose. He thrust one entire skinny hand in one of his parabolic ears and rummaged in there under their disgusted stares.

\- "The egg hatched. Calcifer wants to see you all. The Shadows Nibblers will stay down for a while. Oh, if they smell someone interesting, they might have a small bite, but... for now you should be fine", he said sarcastically, after plucking out of his ear a ball of wax and carelessly throwing it on the carpet.

Scorpius swallowed hard. Vivienne hurried to get her perfume from her purse and sprayed generous amounts around her, making Matilda sneeze. The biologist hurried to swaddle again the snow flower.

Terrence temporarily fixed a cold compress on Albus' chest, then helped him put on his sweater. Günter offered his help to Christopher, but the geologist refused gruffly and hobbled out with the help of a chair turned into a crutch. Wendy made a move to tie up Euphrosine's bandage, but the old woman withdrew her hand almost violently.

\- "Sorry", mumbled the girl. "I didn't mean to hurt you..."

\- "Leaping lizards, my child, don't behave like a ninny!" yelped the witch.

His knees were creaking and her joints grinding like the poorly oiled cogs of a machine. She looked terribly old and frail.

Wendy did not insist, but she kept a careful eye on her colleague as she stumbled down the stairs.

Everyone was silent, as they all feared the words Calcifer would utter.

You were cold up above in the observation dome, but felt good on the study floors and dormitories. It was starting to get warmer in the labs and the common areas, and it was _very hot_ when you came to the engine room. Down below, in the boiler den, the temperature was almost unbearable and Pepper, in his tartan kilt, was the only one looking comfortable. The room was round and small - a wonder if you considered it formed the base of the Tower. The ceiling was supported by old beams, as in a simple cottage. The walls and floor were covered with shiny black tiles. The onyx stone fireplace stood in the center, directly connected to the multiple copper pipes that fed hot water to the whole station.

The dark corners were buzzing of constant whispers: the Shadows Nibblers were lurking under the walls.

Calcifer was slouched in the hearth and barely lifted an eyelid when they came in. It was one of the strangest creatures ever. He could take many forms, but most of the time he looked like a yellow will-o'-the-wisp dancing in the greenish flames, with two small sharp teeth, three or four triangular ears and long skinny arms.

What was the most unsettling about him were his glowing and unfathomable eyes, that looked deep in you as if they knew absolutely all your secrets and were about to reveal them.

\- "Here they are, sir", said Pepper deferentially.

\- "How _nice_ of you to visit lonely Calcifer!" cooed the fire daemon in his unpleasantly high-pitched voice. "Panic arises and suddenly we remember hot water does not come by itself to the bathroom, do we not?"

He rolled on himself, languidly waving his arms around like a cat playing with his tail.

\- "And what do they want from the unfortunate Calcifer who is bored _all day long_ with no one to talk to him, with _no one_ even bringing him a poor little tiny _delicious_ bacon rind?"

\- "Stop showing off. You know _why_ we're here", Euphrosine retorted hoarsely.

The ember eyes glared at her for a second and the others shivered. Then the creature again curled around an agate log and heaved a theatrical sigh.

\- "A-a-ah, poor Calcifer, tortured and abused by mere humans..." he whimpered. "Brutes with mushy brains and no heart... and ruder than trolls..."

Terrence was looking for shards of the eggshell Pepper had mentioned, but there was nothing but a shimmering powder on the edge of the hearth.

Scorpius tried not to look at Calcifer. Albus, however, could not take his eyes off the fire daemon. Wendy was huddled in between Vivienne and Matilda, but the two women were not feeling better than her. Actually, the young mechanic should have been the most at-ease of all – except for Euphrosine - since she spent most of her time on the floor above the boiler den, in the engine room, and that she often had to come down to do the pipes maintenance. But Wendy hated traveling by Floo powder and the greenish flame which gave off no ash and did not burn scared the life out of her: _was_ _Calcifer always half here, half elsewhere?_

Christopher was keeping an eye on the Shadows Nibblers. One of them dared to step into the light, irresistibly attracted by their silhouettes stretched on the tiles. The young man glared at it with an explicit movement of his crutch. The little black creature - a soot ball mounted on two tiny legs like a fluffy bird with big round eyes - immediately scampered off with a squeak.

Günter cleared his throat. He clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels, smiling benevolently despite the concerned wrinkle dug in between his thick eyebrows.

\- "Please, Calcifer", he said gently. "We would be very grateful if you'd enlighten us with your wisdom."

The fire daemon strutted.

\- "Yes, I'm very wise, ho-ho-ho", he chuckled smugly. "And I happen to have an egg _so_ beautifully filled to the brim with seeds of dilemmas..."

His burning gold eyes jumped from one to another quickly. Scorpius gasped in pain, clutching his left arm. Terrence's neck went so cold he shuddered. Christopher's teeth grinded horribly.

Albus' forehead was beaded with sweat. Euphrosine had gone even paler, but her gaze was still as stern as before.

\- "If you explain to us what you mean, I will not only give you so more bacon rinds, but also a good measure of seal fat", coaxed Günter.

Pepper rolled his eyes, as if he found this highly indecent.

Vivienne scoffed behind her hand.

\- "This is _haggling_! What a naughty little pest. I thought he had us come down to this furnace because he wanted to _talk_ to us!" she told Matilda.

The biologist, stiff as a stick, only let out a strangled groan.

The fiery eyes of Calcifer settled on the astronomer and for a moment it was so cold in the boiler room they thought their blood was going to freeze. Then the daemon lolled lazily on his stone logs.

\- "A poem befits each moment of life", he purred. "A nice poem to tie very complicated knots in your brains..."

He drew in a deep breath and suddenly swelled up to fill the hearth with devouring fire. They stepped back, frightened, putting their arms over their faces instinctively, but Calcifer's terrible voice filled the room and shook their bodies to the core.

 ** _"Upon Death Knell of this year, t_ _he Gate opens again._**

 ** _Send off Love that could not be Forgotten._**

 ** _The Undecided finally lays down his Burden._**

 ** _Him who Saw clearly on the path will get Lost._**

 ** _To the Child who hoped new Life is given._**

 ** _Fate tears apart Twin Souls whatever the cost._**

 ** _A cruel Choice alone can keep Death at bay._**

 ** _And at the Skylark's song, the Dog - c_ _omes what may."_**

The echo repeated "comes what may" until the words were no more than a rustle, then the flames fell down. Under the walls, the Shadows Nibblers were huddled in terror.

They were all petrified, except for Pepper whose bulging eyes were gleaming.

Calcifer disentangled himself, yawning.

\- "Theeere you go", he said nonchalantly. "As a bonus, here's a piece of advice. Where there's light there's also darkness. Know yourself and you'll stand stronger. If you can discern the reason behind the verb, fewer tears will be shed. _Ciao, ciao_. Remember to get me my bacon rind."

In the dead silence, there was a cracking sound, as if a spark had broken out in the hearth, then Matilda collapsed, unconscious.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Night had come and a blizzard was whooshing over the plain. The wind was howling like a famished wolf and snow frozen nuggets were whipping the windows. The atmosphere had never been so murky in the Observation Tower.

Vivienne had gone to bed with a migraine. Euphrosine was making shortbread and this innocent activity looked like the hobby of a serial killer under her angry grip. Wendy was gathering cups and saucers while watching the kettle. Albus was curled up in an armchair, silent, grimly staring at the flickering flame of a candle. Koff was snoring in its basket, tiny hairy legs quivering from time to time. Terrence had administered a series of potions to Matilda to calm her nerves and make her sleep, then he had come back to the common room and was now leaning with Günter, Scorpius and Christopher over the Antarctic map spread out in the middle of the long table.

\- "To the North, _Crystal Tusks Crest_ and beyond, _Showa Station_. Northeast, _Ogre Island_ which they call _Ongul Island_ ", said the team leader, patting the bowed out purple line marking the frontiers of the Japanese territory. "Definitely not over there."

\- "Full Northwest, there's _Whale Carcass_ , still on Muggle land", Christopher added. "And down Southwest on our side, _Moonrock Bay_. There's nothing over there either."

\- "What's left is all of _Shufflers of Light_ Valley - explored so many times we know by heart the smallest ice rift – _Sarcophagus Cove_ in the Southeast and _Detour Hill_ to the south", calculated Scorpius, annoyed. "And then the floe."

\- " _The Dog comes_ ", Günter repeated thoughtfully. "What dog, what does it mean?"

He pushed up his glasses wearily, rubbed his tired eyes, and stroked the map with his calloused fingers.

\- "There's the _Weeping Dog_ , said Terrence who looked just as exhausted. "But it's a giant iceberg far in the sea. If the Axis Gate is there, we'll get our feet wet."

\- "Impossible", Euphrosine grumbled in her cloud of flour. "The Gate is located inland. The machine our predecessors built is _not_ a submarine."

\- "It's a drill rig", Wendy precised, giving around cups of strong black tea. "A vehicle intended to dig underground roads and dwell in tunnels."

\- "What a headache!" Chris exclaimed angrily, punching the table, which made the saucers and Koff jump in fright.

Albus lifted his emerald eyes. He was looking really tired and felt slightly nauseous.

\- "In any case, there's at least one thing we got from this gibberish", he muttered. "We know the Gate will open for sure and _when_ it'll be."

\- " December 31st, just before midnight", Wendy shivered. "In nine days."

Scorpius ran a hand over his drained face. His sleeves were rolled up and the inscription on his left arm was glowing in the candlelight in sharp bloody letters.

 _RENOUNCE._

Günter tried to hide his nervousness behind his smoking teacup.

 _"If you can discern the reason behind the verb, fewer tears will be shed."_

 _Send off. Tears apart. Death. Cruel choice._

Suddenly finding the Axis had become a quest in which they would risk their lives. He was not sure all these years of researches had prepared him for this. He was scared, yet he was thrilled.

 _The Gate was going to open._

 _Finally._

It had been the purpose of his life, it was going to be the top of his career, the absolution for what he had abandoned.

It was time to prove he had been right to make such a terrible choice.

He looked at his teammates again and a lump formed in his stomach.

 _Christopher, weak and uncertain._

 _Euphrosine, crushed by her secret._

 _The genius and his two friends: the girl who was brave as a lioness and the young man who concealed his big heart under his haughty airs._

 _And then the boy who shared his soul with a dragon._

What was the prophecy about? _Who_ would not come back? Who would face the dilemmas Calcifer had mentioned? Was he going to be able to protect them all until the song of the skylark?

 _And what the devil meant this skylark? There was no such bird in Antarctica!_

He took an absent sip and burned his tongue. Spluttering, he grabbed the glass of water held out to him and wiped his mouth. When his coughing subsided, he met Pepper's worried eyes, staring at him.

He smiled beneath his tousled gray hair, patted the pinkish bald skull of the house elf.

\- "What lies ahead of us, old friend?" He sighed. "I shouldn't have asked you to come... what have I done to you? It controls you... you've changed..."

The old servant shook his head.

\- "No, not changed. Pepper knows _why_ he had to leave Hogwarts, now. It was his _fate_. Everything will be fine, master", promised the elf, lifting up big fervent orbs. "It is for those who were marked that it'll be difficult."

Günter looked at him sadly.

\- "That's what worries me", he muttered.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: Brains, Strength, Compassion & Loyalty_**

* * *

 ** _How is it going with the references? =)_**

 ** _"Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are probably the most evident ones, in here._**

 ** _Are you enjoying the story? I love this chapter for the many questions it raises. I hope you're hooked by now, 'coz we're about to dive into serious business! One more chapter, then we'll have a peek at Scorpius' school years, and maybe this is going to help us crack some parts of the riddle…_**


	6. BRAINS, STRENGTH, COMPASSION & LOYALTY

**BRAINS, STRENGTH, COMPASSION & LOYALTY**

* * *

The next day was not a glorious one. The burning feeling on their skin had dimmed to nothing more than a bearable dull pain, but their uneasiness had grown bigger with the prophecy. No one had slept properly and they all snapped at one or another time during the day. At breakfast, Matilda broke three or four cups and Pepper repaired them with an exasperated sigh. Later, Christopher and Terrence nearly jumped at each other throats and Scorpius had to separate them. Lying under the belly of the golden pumpkin-shaped vehicle to repair it, Wendy had shivers like someone who's coming down with the flu. She was hearing Calcifer whisper ominous words in the room below and chills were running down her spine. Vivienne was in a hateful mood and looked more like a harpy than a Veela when she yelled at Euphrosine about an abnormality in Orion Nebula: six floors at least were able to follow the discussion.

Koff had swallowed eight spoons of aluminum, a handful of Knuts, a pair of silver earrings and a golden quill tip before someone finally realized the mini-monster was not locked in his cage. Albus was nowhere in sight and the atmosphere deteriorated even more when they found out he was missing.

For the first time since their arrival at the base, Günter looked really pissed off. He stationed himself in the lobby, arms crossed over his old robes, his gray hair electrified and his eyes gleaming of anger behind his glasses, and did not move until the magizoologist came back, so late in the afternoon that the sun was stretched in tongues of fire over the pristine valley.

Pepper had tried to bring the man a bowl of soup, an armchair, something to read and even a bedpan, but the team leader had dismissed him each time with an impatient wave of the hand. When a weary Albus unlocked the doors and stepped in, the house elf glowered at him.

\- "Now comes the brat", he hissed through his teeth. "He doesn't care if the master's worried."

\- "Günter's not my master", Albus retorted, removing his wet coat and hanging it on the hook.

\- "No, indeed", the old man agreed curtly. "But I'm your team leader. I am _responsible_ for you. That's why I _must_ to know _when_ you go out and _where_ you intend to go."

Albus only shrugged and Terrence, who had hurtled down four steps at once when he had spotted his friend from the sickbay window, could not help shuddering inwardly.

The emerald eyes of the young man were shaded in storm grays beneath his black hair plastered to his forehead and dripping with icy water.

\- "Oh, but _Potter_ is above rules", snickered Christopher who was coming back from the boiler room with an empty bag - he had been feeding lava stones to the Shadows Nibblers. "When you're _the_ _son of the Minister of Magic_ , you don't have to follow rules established for the common people."

\- "Shut up, Cadwallader", snapped Albus, thrusting his hands into his pockets, not looking directly at Günter.

His face was drawn and there were dark circles under his eyes. His chin looked tense and stubborn, his lips pursed as if he was plagued by constant internal struggles.

The face of the team leader softened.

\- "You should get some rest. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Albus snorted and Terrence felt his heart sink. He had never seen his best friend look this bitter and defiant before.

\- "That's an order", clarified Günter softly.

\- "An _order_ ", chimed in Pepper petulantly.

Christopher mumbled something but Terrence decided to ignore it. He stepped forward, reached out to grab his friend's arm.

\- "Come on, let's go."

But Albus pulled away and went across the lobby, not worrying about the puddles of mud his snow boots were leaving behind. He disappeared into the spiral staircase like a gust of wind.

\- "Teenage crisis", Christopher sneered.

This time again, Terrence felt like punching him, but a glance from Günter stopped him.

\- " _Renounce_..." muttered the old man.

The healer's nape prickled uncomfortably and Cadwallader shifted his weight from one foot to the other, nibbling his lip.

\- "I hope this atmosphere will not settle in", finally said the team leader, pushing his glasses up on his forehead. He offered a slightly crumpled smile to the boys. "Have you ever heard about Christmas Truce?"

Christopher only grunted before he left too.

\- "I'll fetch Wendy, said Terrence with a grin that was meant to be positive. "She'll fix up Albus in two seconds."

He was wrong.

That night, dinner was gloomy and the noises of Matilda slurping up her pudding were greeted with relief by all - except Pepper who was frowning so much it looked like a white bush of hair had grown in the crease between his protuberant eyes.

Albus had locked himself in his room and tears kept rolling down on Wendy's cheeks. She was sniffing loudly, looking straight ahead. Very embarrassed, Christopher was trying to become invisible: he had witnessed the moment when Albus had shouted "leave me alone from time to time!" before slamming the door. Euphrosine had not come down for the meal either. Vivienne was massaging her temples, experiencing yet another migraine. Günter was lost in dark thoughts and his spoon missed his mouth half the time. Terrence was whispering encouraging words to Wendy, without any success, and Scorpius was watching them, thinking he wanted to be thousands of miles away from this place.

 _What was the use of being about to break one of the greatest mysteries of the magical world, if all the friendships built in Antarctica would suddenly crumble?_

He had come to like the fourteen-story tower, the fact you could not apparate, the empty, icy vastness of the _Shufflers of Light_ Valley, the voluntary exile at the ends of the world, the endless routine reports.

He _loved_ being there with Albus and Wendy and Terrence and the others. He loved being Scorpius Malfoy, the Government officer, useless but irreplaceable in the team.

He was where he belonged.

 _But now everything was going wrong and it was not -_ not at all _\- what he had hoped when coming to Inlandsis Station._

His eyes began to sting and he stuck his fork into his battered fish, furiously fighting back the tears of frustration welling up behind his eyelids.

 _Maybe they should have never searched for the Axis. Maybe_ this _was why there was no sign of their predecessors' success. They had probably missed the opening of the gates when they were fighting for peanuts..._

At the end of the meal, he volunteered for cleaning: the plates washed and wiped on their own, but they were capricious and sometimes changed cupboards with the glasses when no one was watching them. He did not hurry: there would be no evening together in the living room. Vivienne would not play the piano and Matilda would not sing. Euphrosine would not telling wonderful stories, making legendary characters billow in a silvery mist of magic. Pepper would not bring a hot cuppa to his master. Günter would not be smoking the pipe quietly, observing Terrence who would engage in one of his experiments at the round table, under the interested gazes of Wendy and Albus, and the jealous glances of Christopher who would be sipping a small glass of _Firewhiskey_.

The living room was indeed quiet and dark, when Scorpius came in. He pulled out his wand from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, and lit up the chandeliers. The candlelight flickered over the dark green cushions, the sofa and its peeled velvet, the mahogany armrests of the armchairs. It glimmered on the embroidery of the thick carpets, the blankets and the worn-out books in the library shelves. The tapestries on the walls had faded under the Antarctica sun: the elegant boats, the historic buildings and the wildlife they represented were almost worn off, as were the Latin inscriptions. The fragrance of an exotic tobacco hung in the round and comfortable room. Politicians and scientists in the paintings were dozing, snoring peacefully. At the middle of the room stood a large glass globe, girdled in gold, in which it was constantly snowing. The continents and islands were drawn in translucent forms and you could see from time to time in the oceans the fleeting shadows of whales and dragons.

Scorpius sat down on the sofa. He considered for a moment putting up his feet on the coffee table, then reasoned and only slouched against the back padding with an irritated sigh.

 _Merlin, did he hate change, irrational stuff, irregularities, surprises..._

The door opened and he straightened up.

\- "Albus?" he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

His former classmate bit his lips.

\- "Can I come in?" he asked hoarsely.

Scorpius nodded and shifted to make room on the sofa. But Albus just stepped into the room, almost as if he already no longer remembered why he had come in.

He looked exhausted. His eyes were too bright his fingers trembled on the seam of his trousers.

\- "Are all the others gone to bed?" he asked abruptly.

\- "Yes", Scorpius said slowly, watching his friend carefully. "Are you hungry? There're leftovers in the galley."

\- "M' fine", retorted Potter.

A wince tugged at the corner of his mouth. He fiddled with a trinket on a shelf, pulled out a book and leafed through it nervously, then put it back clumsily. The book fell to the floor with a thud. Albus stifled a curse but did not make a move to pick it up.

Scorpius frowned.

\- "Al? Everything all right?"

The young man shrugged. He ran a hand through his tousled black hair, rolled and unrolled the collar of his sweater. Scorpius saw a red plate in his neck and his barometer of concern went up a few more notches.

\- "Come here and sit down", he ordered.

Albus stared at him for a moment, as if he did not understand the sentence, then shuddered and obeyed.

\- "It's cold", he mumbled, dropping on the sofa.

\- "Yes, a bit", nodded Scorpius, examining him carefully. "But I think it's mostly fever that gives you that impression. You should be in bed, Potter. Have you slept at all last night? And _where_ were you, all day long, today?"

Even without touching him, he could feel the insane heat radiating from Albus' body.

\- "I don't know", stammered the young man, rubbing his left eye with his fist, like a tired child. A sudden annoyance flashed over his face, drawing a grinning mask. "You're not my nanny, Malfoy. Just leave me alone."

He made a move to get up, but Scorpius grabbed his arm and did not need to use force. Like a puppet, Albus slumped back on the sofa.

\- "What's happening to you, Al?" rasped his friend, his throat knotted with anxiety. "It's not _you_ , that."

They had known each other from the age of eleven and it was the first time his friend was being rude. _No one_ was as patient and compassionate as Albus.

\- "You're sick", Scorpius said with conviction. "You're going to hit the sack with one of Terrence's yucky potions and things will get better tomorrow."

\- "No..." Albus whispered. "Please…"

Scorpius froze, insides churned by the fragility there was in this supplicating voice.

\- "Do you want to stay here? What is it? Is your room too far away?"

\- "I don't want to be alone with him", muttered the young man, pulling his knees against his chest as if to protect something.

\- " _Him_ who?"

Albus shot him a furious glance, but did not have time to retort that this was a silly question.

A strong fit of coughing shook him. Scorpius, distraught, could only draw circles on his friend's back and hope it would be over quickly.

Panting, pale and trembling, Albus curled up on the sofa when he finally managed to catch his breath. Sweat was trickling down his forehead. His eyes were still gleaming, but it was not only because of the fever. He looked close to tears.

\- "It's... awful", he croaked.

\- "I can see that", Scorpius grumbled. "Can you please stop talking in riddles? I'm not Terrence, in case you don't remember."

Albus had a small strangled laugh.

\- "I _know_ who you are, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. There's no way I'd confused you with someone else."

He licked his dry lips, rubbed his bloodshot eyes again. His bangs were plastered on the burning skin of his forehead.

\- "Where have you been all day?" Scorpius repeated, trying to keep steady his voice that was vibrating with anxiety.

\- "At the _Weeping Dog_ ", confessed Albus, looking at the carpet. "Diving, trying to find the Gate. It's not there. There is nothing under this iceberg."

He shivered from head to foot and Scorpius wanted to slap him.

\- "You went underwater _again_? No wonder you're about to die! This is _Antarctica_ , here, not the prefects' bathroom!"

\- "It was dark, under water", Albus mumbled, looking miserable. "And Dewis was furious. He... we fought..."

His friend cocked his head to the side.

\- "You fought with the dragon?" he exclaimed incredulously. "But you're... well, it's... your heart - your alter ego or..."

He suddenly fell silent, feeling a chill run down his spine.

 _"Fate tears apart Twin Souls whatever the cost."_

His hand instinctively grabbed and squeezed Albus' fingers, like the distant day when they had both been lost in the darkness of a tomb, in Brazil.

\- "Pray tell", he said in a firmer voice. "The truth. All of it."

The black-haired young man pursed his lips and leaned back against the velvet padding. For a moment he looked like he wasn't going to let go of his secret, then the words came loose out of his mouth, in frightened, plaintive bits of sentences.

\- "I had this feeling for some days, already, but... from the moment... we got the _mark_ … it's even stronger. It's like Dewis… he's trying to leave. I mean, to _get out_ , literally. He pulls and tries and..."

Albus winced as if he could physically feel something. Scorpius wondered how it felt to have your heart torn apart... and he realized he knew.

\- "I'm... angry... and then he cries. And after he's happy to be here with Wendy and everyone, he goes quiet... then he's delirious again, he talks of his kin, of a light... and then he bites and growls... he says he hates me... he wants to go away..."

His voice broke and this time a tear rolled down his pale cheek.

\- "It hurts…"

Scorpius bit his lip. He felt so useless and awkward it was nauseous.

 _What would have Terrence done in his place? He would have thought about it and found a solution, no doubt._

 _And Wendy? Wendy would have held Albus in her arms and she would have given him the warmth he always seemed to seek._

Scorpius hesitated, then he moved closer, put his arm around his former classmate's shoulders, trying to be as comforting as possible.

\- "Things will get better", he promised. "There's probably a reason for it all. The Axis is not supposed to be a dark and cruel force, it's supposed to be... some sort of Paradise of Knowledge. The dragon's just upset because you have a forty degrees fever. You said it yourself. He's delirious."

It was weak and unconvincing, but Albus did not fight back. He was visibly exhausted. He instinctively curled against his friend, snuggled his hot face in the cool shirt.

\- "You had fish", he mumbled.

Scorpius took in a deep breath to calm the wild beating of his heart.

 _Albus, who was behaving_ again _like a cat, smelled of wet feathers and honeysuckle soap, and salt crystals speckled the dark mop of hair tickling Scorpius' chin._

Memories flooded in his mind, almost drowning him.

\- "How do you know what I had for dinner? Does my breath stink?" he managed to articulate in an almost sarcastic manner.

His blood was boiling with a furious desire to _protect_. He suddenly felt able to face a thousand deaths, Calcifer 's burning eyes, to defeat hundreds of armies and to defy his father.

Scorpius did not think he was important enough to be mentioned in a prophecy, but some lines had pierced his heart.

And then there was the word carved into his flesh and he could not ignore it.

He knew _what_ the verb was referring to and he hated that he could not even subdue his emotions, that his most fiercely guarded secret was in great danger to be exposed for all to see.

 _What kind of test was awaiting them beyond the Gate? Would he be able to overcome his dilemma?_

In their gang, Terrence was the brains, Wendy the strength and Albus the compassion shown by heroes and angels – a pure and powerful love offered to all creatures. Then Scorpius was... _well, not much of anything._

 _The spare. The comic factor. A silly grumpy companion who was vaguely pitiful._

 _But it did not matter as long as he could be with them._

He did not know he was _loyalty_.

He shifted carefully to extricate his wand from his pocket and pulled to him a blanket folded on the chair next to the green plant that Matilda watered religiously every morning. He unfolded the square of angora wool with an unformulated spell to cover Albus, leaned his neck against the padded back of the sofa and did not move anymore.

The living room was bathed in the soft light of the candles and the warmth running through the copper pipes. Behind the big window, the snow was falling slowly, sprinkling the night in light sugar flakes.

Albus had fallen asleep. His breathing was hoarse and painful. He was far too hot for a human being. Maybe this fever was not caused by his two stupid bathing sessions in the sea by minus a hundred degrees, but rather due to the internal battle he had engaged with the Dragon...

When he would be a bit rested and when he would again be himself - _courageous, dedicated and determined, whatever the challenge ahead_ \- Scorpius would take him to the sickbay and ensure that Terrence would tie him up on a bed and heal him.

But for a moment, the blond young man allowed himself to remain here, his arm around the slender shoulders of the person who mattered most in the world.

 _For once, it was his turn to be the protector._

 _For once, there was no funny and gifted best friend nor beautiful and fearless girlfriend._

He remembered being on top of the redwood platform, while the evening sky painted the Amazon Forest in flaming shades, during their last year of school. Moments when he had found himself alone with Albus were so rare he could count them on the fingers of one hand.

They were both dirty and sweaty after their day at the quarry, but there was something satisfying in the aches of their muscles, because they were the result of hard and good work. Albus had put down the water bottle after emptying it over his head. Bright drops were trickling down his face, tracing furrows in the red dust smeared all over his face. They had talked about lots of things without importance, then Albus had darkened.

\- "Wendy thinks Toothless is cute and she admires Dewis, but _me_ , I'm not them..." he had suddenly muttered bitterly.

\- "Aren't you three a bit crowded in there?" Scorpius had retorted.

Albus was not one to complain. He might easily show emotions – _now, name a seventeen years old bloke capable of shedding tears because someone killed the panther who was trying to eat him -_ his friends had never seen him bend under Cadwallader's bullying or request a break when his amputated leg was hurting.

So this was very unsettling for Scorpius and he had tried to get away using humor.

His attempt had failed though.

Albus was looking tired and resigned.

\- "I'm never going to be good enough", he had sighed. "Remember when we were in the Hebrides? She jumped into the fight without fear, as if it was Quidditch and they'd be cheaters. Skyler treated her as an equal. Wendy, she's... there's no one as brave as her. _I_ was scared. I didn't want to fight or..."

The word stuck in his throat.

\- "Neither did you want to kill" completed Scorpius softly, massaging his own shoulder absently. "None of us wanted that. We were just kids..."

The old scar was still there under his shirt and sometimes he would wake up suddenly at night, like if it had been only the day before he had saved Ron Weasley's life.

He could still hear the roaring of the dragons, the war cries of the fevered rebels and the unhealthy gaze of the Anghenfil was stalking him in his nightmares.

\- "I think the one she loves is... an illusion", Albus concluded, looking as if he was trying to swallow a plate of barbed leeks. "I'm a liar..."

Scorpius did not agree at all, but, _as usual_ , he could find nothing to say to comfort his friend. Finally, Terrence had called them down for dinner and Al had never talked about it again.

Now Scorpius wondered if those ideas had always been lurking in Albus' heart, ready to resurface when a breach would open – a cursed doubt planted to germinate and destroy, like a dormant fate.

He had always regarded the dragon as a blessing - a revelation of what made Albus so special. The adorable Toothless, the powerful Dewis, the wise heart of the dragon reflecting in the emerald eyes... this secret was a gift given to someone who deserved it, a tool or a weapon placed in the hands of someone who had all the attributes of a savior.

 _But maybe he had been wrong..._

 _Maybe Albus had always played hero and hid his dilemma to his friends..._

Scorpius frowned so hard it almost hurt his nose.

He craned his neck to watch the sleeper snuggled against him and promised himself that next time he would not remain stupidly dumb.

 _He would know what to say. He would give back what had been given to him._

 _He would prove worthy of the friendship that pulled him out of darkness._

He yawned. He felt pleasantly numb and his thoughts were fraying off, now that he had come to some peace with his mind. His eyelids became heavy and his cheek slid toward the mop of black hair resting on his shoulder.

The next day, he would wake up with a stiff neck and flushed cheeks when Günter would clear his throat and Pepper would not spare them his snide comments.

But for now the room was perfectly quiet and peaceful. The slow dance of snowflakes in the glass globe was cradling their mingled breaths.

Scorpius was dreaming.

Of his first encounter with the emerald eyes, of a ferret named Spoon, of the horrible taste of treacle pies and of a dark dungeon filled with sulphurous smokes, in which a spark of hope had lit up...

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter : Waiting in the Lost & Found _**


	7. Waiting in the Lost & Found

**WAITING IN THE LOST & FOUND**

* * *

The old sorting hat smelled of boiled leather, girly shampoo and cheap hair gel.

Scorpius was hoping nobody had left some lice in the folds and felt rather relieved when the rustling voice finished procrastinating with itself and finally announced in which house he had been sorted.

\- "Gryffindor!"

The designated table burst into warm applause, but Scorpius paled and nearly tripped over his robes as he went down the stairs in a daze.

 _Gryffindor?_ This _was_ not _what was expected. Something was going terribly wrong._

He slipped on the edge of a bench and stared at his fists, feeling very unhappy.

 _How was he going to tell his father that he had not been sorted into Slytherin? And what would his grandfather say? That it was "not surprising Draco's offspring was an imbecile unworthy of the glory of Salazar"... and then his father would blanch and his grandmother would step in and the evening would turn into yet another disaster. Later his mother would cry and beg again her husband to move to India or anywhere, far away from Malfoy Manor._

Scorpius pursed his lips, fighting to hold back his tears.

He wanted so much to make his father happy. Draco Malfoy had looked so proud on _Platform 9 ¾_ , readjusting his son's bow tie. For once, his gray eyes had not been melancholic.

 _Why Gryffindor? Stupid and senile mumbling hat..._

The first years sorting out ended without his noticing, and when he looked up at the end of the welcome speech, he found in front of him, on the other side of the table, a girl with neat brown curls who seemed terrified by the roast, and a blond boy with round glasses, busy tapping his wand on his pumpkin juice glass, who was mumbling a ridiculous spell sounding like " _Robin eggs, lavender ; sweet magic of Moon River ; Bubblegum, blue brownies, Toffee Eclair ; turn these peas in what I prefer_."

Scorpius glanced around, met the unkind stares of few Seventh years and slouched on the bench, not understanding why they looked like they were whispering about him. The other students seemed to care only about filling their stomachs or catching up after the summer holidays. You could hear gossip, giggles, jokes that would have hurt the delicate ears of his mother and _apparently_ at his table, _no one_ knew how to use a fork.

Ghosts were swirling under the magic starry ceiling, stirring cries of fear or delight that did not disturb the teachers absorbed by their dinner. A giant hare with mangy fur was watching over the Great Hall with severity, seated on the stool that had been used for the sorting out.

Nothing was like it was at home.

Golden plates instead of silver dishes, so much noise it would have been hard to hear the quartet of violins playing in a corner of the Malfoy's dining room... and then it was not his mother smiling at the end of the table, but a sullen teenager covered with pimples.

Scorpius's throat felt clogged. Everything, even going back on the lake in these coarse boats suddenly seemed preferable to stay in this castle buzzing new things and rude people.

\- "Hey", said a voice next to him. "Can you grab the fish cakes?"

He turned his head and met two big green eyes looking a bit worried.

\- "You okay?" asked the student with black tousled hair who had talked to him. "You don't look so good. Did you get seasick on the lake?"

It was another First year, not very tall and rather skinny - built like Scorpius was, actually. He had long dark eyelashes, a snub nose, some mayonnaise at the corner of his mouth and fingers flecked with crisps crumbs.

\- "Hey, you're _Albus_ , aren't you?" shouted another boy, leaning over his plate and pushing aside the girl with the brown curls who glared at him. "You're _Harry Potter_ 's son, aren't you? Wicked!"

This one had an Irish accent, freckles, close-cut hair and very clear blue eyes.

\- "I'm Craig Finnigan", he introduced himself, thumping his chest, regardless of his tie sweeping over chicken drumsticks. "Me father was in school with yours and me brother Colin's in his third year with your brother James," he added, pointing at a group of teenagers of their house, a few benches away.

One of them was casually running a hand in his mop of hair from time to time, obviously trying to get the attention of a fourth year of Hufflepuff who was stupidly giggling among her flock of tittering friends. He looked a bit like the boy sitting next to Scorpius, but in older and more... _arrogant_.

Albus smiled shyly at Finnigan, bravely bearing with the stares of wonder of the other students, and young Malfoy examined him, raising an eyebrow.

 _Potter._

 _The name his father abhorred._

Really, there was nothing to be impressed with.

\- "Harry Potter, that's the man who saved the world, isn't it?" asked the blond boy with glasses. "He defeated Lord Ventdemort. I read it in _Hogwarts: A History_."

The girl next to him did not look impressed at all. She had decided to try on the Homity pie and seemed to find it at her taste.

\- "Lord _Voldemort_ ", corrected someone in a shocked whisper.

Cold air crept under Scorpius' shirt.

 _That name, Draco Malfoy never mentioned it, but he hated even more, if that was possible._

\- "I hope we'll be in the same bedroom!" Craig Finnigan continued excitedly. "Me father would be so thrilled! Can I get an autograph?"

Albus protested, but no one listened to him because the desserts had suddenly appeared on the table, triggering a new startled yelp from the girl with brown curls.

This one was definitely Muggle born, but Scorpius did not want to make fun of her. He was tired from the long hours of train. His clothes were still slightly damp after crossing the lake under a cold drizzle. He was missing home and he had a headache.

He heaved a sigh of relief when the headmaster announced it was time to go to bed and hurried after their prefect to the door.

After a long hike in the cold corridors of Hogwarts and some scary episodes in the enchanted stairs - _the boy with glasses, whose name was Terrence Swanson, nearly fell into the void several times_ \- they finally arrived in front of the painting concealing the entrance to their common room. Scorpius scribbled on a piece of parchment the password given by the leprechaun who was riding a morose goat in a faded meadow, but the prefect severely confiscated all papers before reciting the rules of the dormitory.

\- "Before it was a fat lady", whispered a boy who had a name like Mule or Mulan - _Macmillan, perhaps?_ \- and someone sniggered: "the painting or the prefect?"

The Fifth year boy who was in charge of them glowered at them and warned them that it was the last time he would tolerate such insolence. He showed them the dormitories, explained their luggage would already be upstairs and went away muttering something about unbearable marmosets in diapers.

Scorpius found out he would share a room with Craig Finnigan, Terrence Swanson and... _Albus Potter_ , but he did not have time to worry about what would happen when his father would find out. There was too much to deal with.

First, Toughie, the bedraggled owl owned by the blond boy with glasses, began fluttering everywhere, uttering excited hoots and they had to shove down his throat some _Owl treats_ and blindfold him with a sock to make him stop and stay put.

Then the inexhaustible Irish boy started to cast permanent sticking charms on his Quidditch posters and only succeeded in tearing off half of his left eyebrow. He told them his father had blown up Hogwarts when he was in seventh grade and they pretended to believe him so he would let them tape up the posters.

In the bathroom, it was a mess again – splashes and comparing their toothbrushes: Swanson's one was supposed to be _elecfric_ , but it did not work, Potter's was shouting _Halloo!_ when it found a bunt and Finnigan owned toothpaste that smoked red and tasted like chili.

Finally, when Scorpius had finally managed to wash up his face and put on his pajamas, he found in between his sheets a sick looking ferret who planted its tiny sharp teeth into his hand.

\- "Spoon, there you are!" Albus cried with relief.

The nasty little creature snuggled against him, eyeing Malfoy whose eyes were widened in stunned anger.

\- "It _bit_ me!"

\- "Let me see", said Terrence. He gave an interested glance at the rodent rack- shaped bloody mark. "Oh, it's nothing, you'll survive."

\- "Maybe it has _rabies_ ", stammered Scorpius, out of it.

His nostrils were pinched and his eyes were glowing furiously, but internally he was fighting against a terrible urge to burst into tears.

\- "Spoon doesn't have rabies", protested Albus anxiously. "Well... I don't _think_ so. Do you want to go to the infirmary?"

\- "If it has rabies, then it's already too late", Finnigan chimed in happily.

Scorpius gasped. He spun around angrily and buried himself in his bed, pulling the curtains to no longer see them.

\- "Sorry", said the voice of that idiot Potter.

 _The worst part was that he sounded sincerely sorry._

There were rustling and whispers for a few more minutes, then the other three were also settled in their bed.

\- "I hope no one's snoring", said Craig. "I'm telling you, me father taught me a spell if it's the case. Apparently, there was a terrible snorer in his room when he was in school, so..."

\- "Do you ever stop talking?" groaned Terrence's voice.

\- "Er… I think I'm snoring. I'm sorry", Albus said shyly. "I don't do it on purpose, I promise."

\- "Too bad for you", solemnly announced Finnigan. "If you suffocate in your snot during the night, don't come asking why. I'm an expert at casting this spell, even when I'm asleep."

Scorpius rolled his eyes behind the wall of scarlet curtains. He let himself sink deeper under the covers, until only his nose was sticking out. The silly chatter of the others finally ended and silence fell in the room.

It was raining outside and a pale mist was rising behind the windows, like the vapor of a ghost. The blankets smelled weird and were itchy. In its cage, the tiny owl was dozing, swaying on its roost with small satisfied _'hooo hooo hooo'_.

There was a running scratching on the floor. No doubt it was the abominable ferret, snooping and ransacking in their open trunks.

Scorpius had never seen people as messy as his roommates. Life at Hogwarts was going to be hell. His parents had told him about the Slytherin common room, of its elegant green and silver furniture and of the shiny reflections of the lake rippling on the ceiling. And now he was stuck in the scarlet Gryffindor tower where everything seemed to be shabby, worn out, pilling.

He bit his lip to keep his chin from trembling, shut his eyelids very tight. He wanted to be at home, to feel his mother's soothing kiss on his forehead, to hear her soft footsteps in the dimly lit hallway. Isosceles, his cat, would be snuggled against him to keep him warm, he would breathed in the familiar scent of his bed and everything would have be perfect.

He clapped his hands over his mouth to stifle a sob.

 _Eleven. I'm eleven. I'm too big to cry._

But tears were swelling in his throat regardless of his age and they would soon overflow.

He did not know that in the other four-poster beds, Terrence was furtively wiping his eyes and Craig was sniffling as discreetly as possible.

They had had a long day, too many emotions, and they were far from their families, in a castle perched on a rock in the depths of Scotland.

There was no magic that could comfort three young wizards on their first night at boarding school.

But there was a miracle.

A peaceful purr, reassuring, that rose in the dark, pushing away the shadows. A sound that wrapped them in the wellness of a soft chocolate cake, of a ray of sunshine at the end of a summer day or of the soft embrace of their mothers.

At first, Scorpius thought it was the ferret. Then he pulled open the curtains of his bed, met the astonished gazes of Swanson and Finnigan who had imitated him, and realized he was mistaken.

Spoon was perched in the canopy above Potter's bed and was cleaning his scruffy fur, looking supremely bored.

It was _Albus_ who was making this strangely comforting throat sound. He was curled up under his blanket, his lips slightly parted, fast asleep.

Terrence put a finger on his lips and leaned back in his bed, quickly followed by Finnigan whose blue eyes were growing heavy with sleep.

Scorpius let his curtains drawn to keep watching from a distance the boy who was sleeping in the bed in front of his. He felt good, like in a cocoon, but a bit intrigued. He yawned, rubbed his eyes.

 _Had Albus felt the same distress as them? Did he know he was not snoring for real? Did he…_

Scorpius fell asleep without noticing and had none of the dreams that usually troubled him when he was in an unknown location.

The next day, when he awoke with a start, feeling the ferret nibble his ear, the pact was concluded between the occupants of the room.

 _It would be their secret._

And Scorpius held onto this during the long grueling weeks that followed.

Before the end of the first half-term, Scorpius knew _why_ his father hated the name Potter. If Harry was anything like his son James, that was not surprising.

 _Scorpius had not asked for anything._

He had deliberately step aside as he watched the budding friendship between Terrence and Albus, and had not try to be included in the trio formed by Craig Finnigan, Samuel Flinch-Fletchley and Fabius Macmillan, two boys from the dorm next door who looked like they were high on sugar all the time. He was not used to frequent other children and had learned to fade in the background in the presence of grown-ups. As a result, he had mastered the art of being invisible, even when he wished to be involved.

 _Yet James Potter's gang was always watching him._

Two weeks after the school had started, Scorpius was sporting a bump the size of a pigeon's egg. When asked what had happened, he would say he was a stupid accident with a drawer, but the truth was James and his buddy Colin had tried to push his head down Moaning Myrtle's toilet.

By the end of September, someone had exchanged all his quills for Weasley gimmicks and was getting scolded each time the teachers gave them back their homework: his were filled with obscenities and spelling mistakes, when not downright insulting the professors.

In the Great Hall, he had learn to use elaborate ruses to bring back his dinner to his table without having it spread on the front of his robes. For some unknown reason, James Potter liked especially when it was a treacle tart that ended plastered in Malfoy's hair. After a few weeks, even the simple smell of caramel gave Scorpius nauseas.

The following month, he slept in a swimsuit in spite of the fact the temperature had gone down considerably: every night there were new frogs in his mattress that now smelled of rotten seaweed. He ended up getting sick, and when the other three explained to the nurse in what state was the dormitory, Hannah Abbott decided to put them in the infirmary for the weekend, while she would clean up the room. Scorpius felt utterly relieved yet overwhelmed with shame. His face buried under his pillow to muffle the sound of his sobs, he could barely hear Albus' familiar purring in the next bed and he was feeling terribly alone and miserable.

Some Seventh years joined Potter's gang in November and the persecution took an even more vicious turn. Scorpius hated especially when they were saying awful things about his father's past. James did not seem to fully understand why it was so much fun, but he would sneer, running a hand in his untidy hair and encouragethe others. On Halloween's night, they cornered Scorpius in a broom closet and drew something horrible on his left arm with indelible ink. When he decided to show the drawing to the nurse, she nearly fainted. She scrubbed it with a nasty spell, almost ripping off his skin, and severely warned she would have to report it to the headmaster. Scorpius felt even worse, like if this was his fault.

Mrs McGonagall never called him to her office, but he felt many times her piercing gaze on him in the Great Hall.

His tormentors left the castle for the Christmas holidays, but Scorpius wrote to his parents he did not want to go home. He was not yet ready to face his father, especially after the polite but cold letter he had received after telling them in which house he had been sorted. And even if he was dying to snuggle in his mother's arms, he knew he would never have the courage to go back to school if he saw her.

Christmas holidays were strange. In the Gryffindor Tower were only left a few students studying hard for their O.W.L and N.E.W.T and - Wendy Philips.

The girl with brown curls had soon proved she was not the scaredy cat she had seemed to be during their first dinner at Hogwarts. In fact, there was probably _nothing_ that she was afraid to face – except maybe her schoolbooks. She was crawling at the bottom of school rankings with a string of T, but she reaped points for Gryffindor in all classes where you needed to be mad to volunteer. She was the first to successfully fly on a broom and the last to come back – in rags but victorious - when they had to pass a test in a maze.

She was not a fussy _mademoiselle_ nor a stupid tomboy either. In fact, Scorpius thought she was quite okay for a female creature and if he was ever to have a sister, he probably would have liked her to be a bit like Wendy, except of course, a girl whose shoes were always muddy and whose fingers were always stained with ink would not readily be accepted in _Malfoy Manor_.

Wendy was never making fun of Scorpius' pale complexion or of his almost white blond hair. She never chuckled when he arrived late for class, hastily putting back in place his robes. She did not look sorry like Albus who looked at him from afar in the Great Hall, or serious like Terrence when he was blowing warm air under the desk to dry Scorpius' soaked socks after an ambush in the bathroom (Malfoy feared - _and hoped despite himself_ \- that the genius blond boy who had guessed it all would go denounce Potter's gang to the professors).

Wendy was clumsy like Scorpius, but she laughed at her mistakes or threatened to _smash_ down people when they laughed at her – when he could only stare at the ground, hoping his cheeks would not set fire to his hair.

At Christmas, she gave him _Made in China_ brass knuckles and advised him to use them if anyone _bothered_ him. Scorpius laughed in spite of himself, picturing James Potter with two panda eyes and Wendy looked pleasantly surprised. She told him it was the first time she'd seen him laugh since September and he frowned.

He was eager to grow up and finally leave this darned Hogwarts. Maybe at summer holidays, if he could gather enough courage, he would ask his parents if he could be transferred to _Beaux Bâtons_ or any _other_ school of magic.

 _Some place where there would no one named Potter._

In January, this painful desire completely changed.

In January, he was late again for _Potions_ , running and panting in distraught: Pernickety Nick was well known for his bad temper and his spittle could turn sour the best preparation.

In January, in the hallway leading to the dungeons, he found Albus Potter, crouched in front of a stone wall.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: The Skylark_**

* * *

 ** _Real Life being hectic as it is right now, I will stick to one chapter a week to the very least. I can't_** **promise _more but I hope I'll be able to update two or three chapters a week. I wanted the adventure to last for 30 days, like the journey down the Axis, but well… you can't always fight fate and daily troubles._**

 ** _Do you enjoy it so far? Scorpius' memories are some of my very favorite chapters of this story. Next time we'll get to see how our young Albus tamed a very frightened white fox…_**


	8. The Skylark

**THE SKYLARK**

* * *

The youngest son of the hero was nothing like his brother. First, he was six months late, if one considered that his birthday was in April. He was kind, clumsy and _very_ shy. He was spending most of his time buried in books or listening to his friend Terrence's constant new theories. He did not seem at all interested in the fame associated with his name, turned a scarlet shade when a teacher exclaimed "Oh, you look exactly like your father at the same age!" and the other students had quickly tired of his lack of charisma. He feared his brother almost as much as Scorpius, if one could believe in the alarmed glances he threw around when James stepped in the Gryffindor common room. And last, rumor had it that he was afflicted with the _curse of Cinderella_.

Terrence had researched it in the library - _his favorite place_ \- but he had returned empty-handed. Apparently the disease was not listed anywhere and belonged more to the domain of gossip than that of medicine.

Albus Potter loved pets, like many other children his age. What was not normal was the love the _creatures_ had for him. The dormitory was ruled by Fabius Macmillan's cat and the unsympathetic ferret Spoon, which prevented rats from squatting the place, but you often came across hopping ecstatic toads when you walked to class with him, or saw mice and spiders busy hugging the walls to follow him.

The Gryffindor table was prone to storms of owls whenever it was mail time – _getting_ _droppings in your plate was not pleasant and Albus' had hair looked more untidy than ever when he reappeared after these twisters of feathers and beaks_ \- and during _Transfiguration_ , sometimes you could see cups rubbing against his ankles or watches that were trying to fly to his desk.

Scorpius had no problem with that: he always felt rather relieved when a wave of owls diverted the attention of the others and he could take care of his meals or homework without having to watch his back.

The persecutions had slow down after the Christmas holidays. There were rumors of a letter allegedly sent by the principal to the parents of every seventh year students. It was whispered that an investigation was conducted into the upper classes to discover the perpetrator of a heinous act. Nobody knew what the deed had been, however. Scorpius was not interested in Hogwarts' gossip: all that mattered to him was that he could venture into the corridors of the castle, alone, without falling into an ambush.

Well, at least most of the time. Today had not been the case.

\- "You'll be fine, don't worry."

He stopped a few meters from Albus and watched him, intrigued. The boy with tousled black hair had left his bag and books next to him on the stone tiles and was leaning over something he held on his lap. The hallway was dark and only a sunbeam passing through a basement window gave some light to the wall smeared by smoky torches.

\- "There. It's done. D'you think you'll find your way back?"

Albus stood up and stretched his arms to hold something to the height of the basement window.

\- "Too small", Scorpius commented before he had time to stop himself.

He frowned and tried to look casual when the other boy turned to him, surprised.

\- "Oh, Malfoy. I didn't know you were there."

Albus' green eyes lit up and he suddenly grinned.

\- "Good ! Can you help me?"

\- "We're late", said Scorpius stupidly.

A drop of water slid from his hair and melted into his wet wizard robes: a half dozen dungbombs had fallen on him when he was passing near the Astronomy Tower – _some_ _fourth years who were bored in class, probably_ \- and he had just spent fifteen minutes cleaning himself in the bathroom. He had the feeling the stench was still floating around him and swallowed back nausea.

\- "I know we're late", Albus said hurriedly. "I don't want to get into trouble either. But if we ignore it, a cat will surely eat it."

He opened his hands and Scorpius saw he was holding a wounded skylark.

\- "It was going _trlit, trlit_ , as if it was crying", explained the black-haired boy with a voice full of compassion. "Its leg's broken. I put up a splint. I think it should be able to fly up to its nest, if we can help it out of the basement window."

Two red and yellow woolen strands were twisted around a wooden splinter at the leg of the bird that was breathing heavily, its beak slightly open, its flanks palpitating.

\- "You should leave it to fend for itself", Scorpius said brusquely. "The others will cast it out if it has a different smell."

His heart was pounding in his chest.

\- "Oh", Albus stammered. "I didn't think about that…"

His green eyes looked concerned for a while, then brightened again.

\- "We could bring it to Professor Migden, she'd know what to do!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes.

\- "Yes, but not _now_. We're _late_ ", he repeated, articulating to emphasize the seriousness of their situation. "Late for _Pernickety Nick_ 's class."

\- "I forgot", Albus winced.

He picked up his books, put the strap of his bag over his shoulder and carefully slipped the skylark in the large pocket of his robes, after swaddling it in a handkerchief. Then he smiled, as if Scorpius had done something great, and walked to the door of the dungeon.

The classroom was filled with thick gray smokes, but it did not prevent the professor from identifying them as soon as they entered.

\- " _At last_ !" he sneered as he came to them, his pointed shoes clicking on the stone tiles. "Are _these_ _gentlemen_ done strolling around the castle premises? Will they deign to do us the grace of their company?"

He was still quite far from them when they were sprinkled by the first spittle. Scorpius narrowed his eyes and Albus did his best to not turn his head.

Polycarpus Flaubert always held himself with his shoulders hunched and his belly slumping forward. He combed the three hairs on his skull with gluey gel and wore an old-fashioned plaid suit. He was as bony as a Patagonykus skeleton, walked like a duck and his breath reeked.

\- "Perhaps _these gentlemen_ need some detention time to help them remember that classes are not a far-fetched option of their cruising at Hogwarts?"

His -p and -f caused each time new flights of nauseating drops and even the giggling students behind their cauldrons began to feel sorry for the latecomers.

\- "Well, well. Since everyone else is already divided in pairs, you will work together", said Flaubert when he no longer had enough breath. He inhaled through his mouth, snorted, then looked at them curiously, as if he had just realized _who_ was standing in front of him. " _Potter and Malfoy_. Let's see what you can accomplish when you're thrown into the same cauldron."

Scorpius was a bit worried he meant that _literally_ , but his anxiety dimmed down when the teacher went off to give Samuel Flinch-Fletchley an earful.

The blond boy went to the rickety table at the back of the room, on which were the ingredients for the potion. Albus put his bag on a stool and fished the swaddled skylark out of his pocket.

\- "It's going to be okay", he whispered warmly, before putting it safely on a shelf, between two dusty jars.

And, again, his teammate thought the words were addressed to him. He cleared his throat, more from embarrassment to the troubling comforting feeling it was stirring in him than because of the smoke surrounding them.

\- "We should start", he said. "The others are twenty minutes ahead of us. I don't understand _how_ he can know exactly _how many_ we are and _still_ confuse us all the time..."

Albus chuckled. He poured in the cauldron the amount of water and baking soda the recipe requested and lit the fire with his wand, while Scorpius pulled on his gloves to tackle the nettle roots.

They worked in silence for a while. Somewhere in the sulphurous fog, Craig Finnigan had blown up yet _another_ cauldron. Wendy, disheveled, her cheeks stained with the purple juice of carbobrotis, was frowning, biting her lips, trying to decrypt the instructions. Terrence was whistling, stirring the blue paste bubbling in his cauldron, without listening to Polycarpus Flaubert's lamentations. Terrence had the highest ratings of the class in most subjects, but he made their _Potions_ teacher pull off his – almost inexistent - hair: he never came to the _right_ result but, curiously, his concoctions always showed interesting.

The clock was ticking inexorably and the teacher suddenly announced that he would begin his tour.

\- "How many seeds do I have to add?" hurriedly asked Albus, ready to empty his cutting board in their quietly bubbling potion.

\- "Five. No ! Four and a half", Scorpius corrected after a quick glance at the manual. "Sorry."

Albus grinned.

\- "It doesn't matter", he said gently.

Scorpius cleared his throat and pointed to the line of the recipe that threatened them with the worst consequences if they were wrong in the number of cenedrine seeds.

\- "But it does", he said sternly.

Albus giggled again.

\- "I'm glad I've been paired with you", he said as casually as if he had asked for the salt.

Scorpius blushed. Behind them on the shelf, the skylark was widening its bean eyes under yellow feather brows. It struggled to get off the handkerchief and managed to stand. Ruffling its wings, the bird hopped on one leg to the edge of the shelf.

Polycarpus Flaubert emerged from the gray mist like the dreadful figurehead of a Viking ship. He sniffed their potion which had a bright golden shade. He twirled his wand above it, examined the spiral, groaned cryptically, then levied a sample that he stocked away carefully.

\- "It's a disaster", he concluded, satisfied, going towards the back room that was his office. "You'd kill more plants than beetles with this _sauce_."

Albus and Scorpius shared a dismayed glance. But they had no time to protest that the recipe announced a draft of a yellow sunflower shade and that they had certainly done better than Violet Morgensten whose cauldron was filled with pink stringy liquid, or than Fabius Macmillan whose potion was crawling away like a swamp monster.

There was a distinct "splash!" followed by a cry of horror.

\- "PROFESSOR! A _bird_ fell in my cauldron!" Miranda Brown squealed, stepping back instead of helping the skylark drowning in her potion.

\- "Don't try to be interesting, Miss Pond", answered Ploycarpus Flaubert distractedly, from the small room where he was labelling the samples.

There was a moment of shocked silence, then everything became a shambles.

Albus had run to save the skylark and now he was hissing in pain, his hands red and covered with blisters. Terrence rushed to him and, after a quick glance around, grabbed a phial on a shelf and emptied its content on his friend's palms. The skin began to smoke but the contorted face of the wounded boy relaxed a bit. Wendy was trying to fish out the bird with a ladle and the others were all talking at once. Craig Finnigan was single-handedly making more noise than a dozen students.

Scorpius swallowed hard and his brain emptied any coherent thought. His face froze like a mask and his legs started to move by themselves. Without taking his eyes off Albus who was breathing through clenched teeth, he forced his way to the office, entered without knocking and stood next to the teacher who did not spare him a look.

\- "Professor, I need to take Potter to the infirmary", he said sharply.

\- "Don't be silly", retorted Polycarpus Flaubert, busy putting the final touch to a label on a phial, frowning and pushing his tongue through his damaged teeth. "We're going to work on another potion in a minute; you don't have time to go to the bathroom, Eric."

\- "Professor, I don't think you understand", insisted Scorpius, raising his voice to be heard over the din of voices coming from the other room. "There was an _accident_."

Irritated, the teacher looked up from his arabesques of ink.

\- "What have you come up with, this time?" he barked.

Scorpius gravely wiped the spittle on his face with his sleeve.

\- "Potter put his hands in a pot of _Recens Hortus_ , sir. Requesting permission to take him to the infirmary."

\- "Billions of blistering barnacles!" gasped Polycarpus Flaubert, opening horrified eyes and letting go of the bottle he was holding. The phial crashed on the stone tiles with a small sound of explosion. "Yes, of course you can! You must! Go immediately! _No_ , wait, wash the irritated areas with essence of..."

\- "Done", cut in impatiently the voice of Terrence. "Malfoy, move your arse. I think the bird will soon kick the bucket and..."

He had an eloquent look. Scorpius immediately understood.

 _And if the skylark dies, Albus will be devastated._

He hastened to the classroom, grabbed the box that Wendy was holding out to him and in which was convulsing the bird wrapped in a pungent-smelling soaked handkerchief, and stormed out, Albus in tow.

They ran breathlessly in the corridors of Hogwarts. From time to time, Scorpius heard a muffled moan somewhere on his left and he prayed with all his heart that the little creature would survive.

Scorpius had never even _sniffed_ in front of his persecutors. He did not want to witness their nasty joy if he broke down. He often cried, more from frustration than pain, but first assured to be safe under his pillow. Even though he was called "the sickly scrawny blonde," he was regarded as a tough kid.

Craig Finnigan, Terrence Swanson and the other boys of their age would have died of shame before being called "whiny": they turned their heads uneasily when a girl wailed after a fall in flying class or winced, accusing the wind / dust / whatever came to their minds when they were scratched or pinched in _Herbology_.

Albus, however, had no such restraint. He was walking with his heart on his sleeve, like a living ball of emotions, and constantly questioned their attitude, never noticing that he was doing so: if he was happy, he laughed. If he was upset, he burst into tears.

When tears welled up in his green eyes, something extremely odd always happened. The first time, Scorpius had thought he was the only one affected, then he realized the other students also seemed to feel the same surge of compassion, the same need to _do_ something.

Even _James Potter_ looked taken aback when his brother's eyes blurred up and he hastened to change the subject or walked away, like if he was afraid he'd soften.

Scorpius was glad that at least _one person_ in the world was able to unsettle his worst enemy, but he would have preferred not to be _also_ invaded by the unbearable feeling, as if making Albus cry was as cruel as killing a unicorn. As if one could _not_ allow such innocence to be broken.

\- "Almost there", he wheezed, trying not to slow down, despite the burning pain in his side.

Albus did not answer.

In the box, the skylark was shaking, its beak wide-open and its eyes rolling in their sockets. Its feathers were blackened and the skin of its neck was raw.

When they finally got to Greenhouse 3, Professor Migden was seeing off her last student from _Ravenclaw_ and she frowned seeing them tumble in, out of breath.

\- "This bird fell into a cauldron of _Recens Hortus_ ", explained Scorpius, breathless, pushing the box in the teacher's hands. "We _must_ save it. _Please_."

He swallowed, straightened with a wince, then grabbed Albus' wrist.

\- "I have to take Potter to the infirmary", he added, and off they went before the woman could ask anything.

Scorpius' brain was still as empty as if it was filled with white paste. He had no idea what had taken him, but he did not want to stop to think about it. The dangerous word _why_ could wait. For now, all that mattered was how the skylark and Albus were doing.

 _"It's going to be okay."_

When they entered with a bang, the nurse immediately put down the spoon and cough syrup she was going to give to a sixth grader who had a dripping nose and was surrounded by a mountain of handkerchiefs. She hurried toward them, lifting her blue dress and pointed at the nearest bed. For a while she got busy, rumbling about the dangers of practical work then, when she had bathed Albus' hands in three different concoctions and coated them with a cream that smelled of peppermint, she went off to fetch strips of gauze and left them alone.

Albus was sitting on the edge of the mattress, his head down, his legs dangling, and he held his palms like an offering. Scorpius, who had stayed out of the way so far, came to the bed, plopped on it and lightly touched his shoulder.

\- "Hey", he said awkwardly.

Albus did not move and Scorpius felt his heart sink. Tears were rolling down the cheeks of the boy with black hair, dampening the collar of his shirt.

\- "Don't cry", the blond boy tried again in a quavering voice.

\- "It's my fault", Albus muttered, still staring at the ground. "It's all my fault…"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

\- "It's not true", he protested. "You couldn't guess the bird would run off and fall in Amelia Pond's cauldron."

\- "Miranda Brown", Albus corrected absently. He snuffled, then lifted his chin and the other boy froze at the guilt he read in the so dark green eyes. "Sorry."

\- "I don't get it", Scorpius said flatly.

Albus shook his head. His face was pale, tense with pain and intense distress coming out of nowhere.

\- "I'm s-sorry", he stuttered. "You shouldn't... I should have... you w-were all alone... it's not fair..."

Scorpius stared at him for a moment before he began to understand. Then his cheeks caught fire.

\- "It has nothing to do with you", he muttered.

\- "We should have told a teacher or protected you", Albus insisted feverishly. "I was s-scared... but you… you helped me... I wish I were as brave as you... thank you... and... I'm s-sorry..."

There was a lump in Scorpius' throat, a clump of giggles or of sobs.

The white haze in his brain tore open under a beam of warm and happy light.

The world suddenly became a less dark, less sad, less lonely place.

He choked on the sudden realization.

He had just understood that for the first time in his life, he had accomplished something. For the first time in his life, he had not just bear with what was happening, he had not tried to hide, he had stepped forward.

 _It was like setting foot on a new land and discovering it belonged to you._

He offered a weak smile to Albus.

\- "Don't cry", he repeated, and his voice was becoming stronger with every new breath he drew. "It was not your fault. Neither the skylark or _the_ _others_... I'm fine. It's okay."

The words were dancing in his head despite the headache that was soon to hatch, inevitable result of this agitation.

 _"You'll be fine."_

 _"I'm glad I've been paired with you."_

Albus was eleven and a half, his nose was red, his eyes puffy with tears and he was holding himself in a weird way because of his hands covered with blisters, but Scorpius thought he looked like a hero.

Not the kind of hero who attacks head-on and beats the bad guys to the pulp - _that was Wendy_ \- not the kind of hero who has answers to every question in the world – _that was Terrence_. He was not cool and funny like Craig Finnigan, and _definitely_ _not_ a detestable show-off adored by his fans like James Potter.

No, Albus was different. He was shy and clumsy and there were tons of things he did not understand or was frightened of, but he _saw_ you. With your troubles, with your flaws, as you were. And he found you interesting. He even offered you his friendship. He showed you that you were able to take your destiny in your own hands - and all of this without knowing how amazing he was.

 _Yes, making Albus cry was a crime. You had_ no right _to hurt someone who did not suspect evil, who believed in everyone, who tried to do good and was angry with himself when he could not._

Scorpius clenched his fists and lifted his chin.

Mrs Abbot chose that moment to come back and she frowned.

\- "What's happening here?" she asked sternly. "Did you have a fight?"

They shook their heads in a beautiful ensemble.

\- "I hope so", said the nurse, examining them carefully. "So, now, you ( _she pushed her finger in Albus' chest_ ) you'll make me glad by lying down, and you ( _she gave a flick to Scorpius' forehead_ ) you'll quickly go back to class. My word, aren't you two small and skinny! Don't children eat soup nowadays?"

Scorpius combed back his hair with a grimace and fled after the second warning from the nurse.

He had lingered behind to mouth silently: "I'll go check on the skylark, I'll be back."

"Thank you," Albus had replied the same way.

The days that followed, the words kept bubbling warmly inside Scorpius. The skylark was slowly recovering and Professor Migden allowed them to visit it as often as they wished. Scorpius never tired of walking alongside the other three, a little behind, watching them laughing and chatting together.

From time to time, Albus would turn and he would just smile and wave him to come closer.

It was like having friends.

Terrence was trying to convince Scorpius to go denounce his tormentors to the headmaster, but the blond boy disliked the idea. _Was it really necessary?_ When he was with Albus, James did not make fun of him and the Seventh years were now keeping at a distance.

Life was so much better.

Winter melted on the hills around Hogwarts and spring began to pop out in small green and pink buds.

It was hard to study in the Gryffindor common room always full of noise, of unpacked _Skiving Snackboxes_ and of mini-explosions, so Scorpius took refuge in their bedroom. Often, he found there Albus reading on the windowsill, Fabius Macmillan's cat curled up on his knees and the ferret snuggled on his shoulder. Scorpius would then sit on the stone tiles next to the window and study in quiet happiness, while golden dust twirled peacefully in a sunbeam.

 _And that was enough._

 _He did not need more._

He tried not to take too much space, found excuses that scraped his throat like fishbone not to be _all the time_ with them, did not sit at the same table - he did not want them to get tired of him.

He was not telling them when the gang cornered him. He claimed he was allergic to pollen when they brushed his face with caterpillars behind Greenhouse 5 and he had a rash because of it. The nurse did not believe him but he stuck to his story. He did not want to become a tattletale like Kevin Mordecrat and to be even more cast out.

He always feared that one day the dream would collapse.

The lark took off the first really hot and sunny day and Professor Migden said it was a good omen, that skylarks symbolized the glow of a new dawn and that their wings were carrying the dearest wishes of humanity.

Scorpius prayed with all his heart.

 _He wanted to be the person Albus had seen in him._

 _He wanted to believe he could be._

 _He would not let go._

 _If he could find the courage to come a little closer... if it was not being too greedy..._

But surely the skylark could not fly away carrying that many desires, so he resigned himself to keep on living bravely.

On _Platform 9 3/4_ , the last day of the school year, after he had kissed his very moved mother and awkwardly greeted his father who was watching him sternly, Scorpius gestured to call Albus and introduce him to his family. But in the blur of sunlight and vapor, he saw him running toward a man who looked exactly like him.

\- "Oh! It's Harry Potter!" cried an excited voice.

Draco stiffened and his wife worriedly touched his hand. James, who was nonchalantly heading towards his family, turned round.

 _"See you in September, Malfoy"_ he mouthed with a sneer.

Then a stone fell inside Scorpius as he watched Albus disappear in the cloud of smoke, without a backward glance, nestled under his father's arm.

Then he knew it was over.

After summer holidays, he would be forgotten.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: SECRETS_**

 ** _(This will be the last of Scorpius Malfoy's memories chapters. After that, we'll go back to our adventure in Antartica. But don't forget what you've learned about him, because it might become tremendously important at some point in the story..._**

 ** _But maybe you've already figured out what Scorpius will have to renounce to...)_**


	9. Secrets

**SECRETS**

* * *

But he was wrong.

In the train to Hogwarts, the door of his compartment flew open and when he looked up from his book with a start, the place was already invaded. Craig Finnigan was chewing the head of a chocolate frog, while talking Quidditch with Samuel Flinch-Fletchley. Terrence Swanson was pulling something long, sticky and blue out of his nose under the disgusted eyes of Fabius Macmillan. Wendy Philips had gotten rid of the silk ribbon holding back her perfect brown curls and had already donned a loose sweater over her posh dress. Toughie was hopping in his cage, hooting piercingly to taunt the cat locked in her basket... and Albus had just dropped on the seat next to Scorpius.

Spoon the ferret popped his devious head out of his master's pocket and rattled his sharp teeth when he saw Scorpius' grimace.

\- "Hi", said Albus with his usual bright smile. "We looked for you everywhere. Did you have a good time over summer?"

Scorpius, who had spent the last two months hearing his parents fight with his grandparents, only shrugged.

\- "Oh", Albus said with compassion.

He took a foil ball out of his _other_ pocket and unfolded it carefully.

\- "Do you want some fish cake?" he asked, apparently believing this was the solution to all problems.

Scorpius felt his throat tickle.

\- "No, thank you. You better give it to Fabius' cat", he answered very seriously.

But a chuckle had just hatched inside his chest, warm and comforting, and he found himself enjoying the merry din around them.

 _He had not been forgotten._

Things did not get easier, though. Their homework had doubled, the teachers were less forgiving and the weather seemed to be trying to establish a lackluster record: an icy mist clung to the windows with persistence and a thick fog rose from the hard and cold ground. Sometimes, crows fell in the fireplace or bugs tried to find refuge in the dormitory: Spoon chased after them, uttering piercing cries that woke the boys in the middle of the night.

During first term, the persecution resumed. Scorpius made such a grand treacle slip in the dining room that he was forced to write his parents in a joking tone about it, for fear the information would reach them from another source. His mother seemed to have guessed, one way or another, that he was tormented at school. He was so afraid she would get sick from worry that he preferred to tell her the truth - somewhat embroidered - rather than have her learn about it from a Slytherin student's family. And he definitely did not want his father – and his grandfather – to know he was bullied.

Then suddenly, without warning, the persecution stopped. Scorpius felt a little guilty that he was relieved, thinking that perhaps the seniors were now tormenting first years. Then he heard Kevin Mordecrat say he had overheard the headmistress giving an earful to her staff. According to the tattletale, the old lady was beside herself and was shouting from the top of her lungs: "Let us be vigilant! We're no longer in the days when students could raise _arachnids_ in their closets or prepare _Polyjuice Potion_ in the ladies' bathroom! The precious children of this time of peace should be able to study in the _best_ of environments!"

Scorpius made a mental note to ask his father about _his_ schooling. He had _never_ heard speak of events as foolish and wondered what kind of wacky headmaster had preceded Minerva McGonagall and let such things happen.

Free from the constant fear of abuses, Scorpius made rapid progress in class. He was a natural worker and loved to study. In _History of Magic_ , he even got better grades than Terrence. He was one of the few to resist when the rest of the class succumbed to Professor Binns' soporific voice. But this was nothing to be proud of, however. He would have preferred to cover himself with glory in another class or to be as cool as Quidditch players.

As soon as the announcement had been made that Second years could come forward, Wendy had tried out to be part of the Gryffindor team and had dragged along Albus and Terrence. Swanson had completely failed the tests – _it had been no surprise: the genius brain seemed capable of anything except coordinating his arms and legs_ \- but the other two had been taken as Chasers. Scorpius had been careful not to imitate them: he was doing pretty good on a broom, but James Potter was part of the team and you had to be mental to go risk your life in the sky when _someone_ could easily pretend they _did not mean_ to knock you out with a bat...

For Christmas, Scorpius went back to Malfoy Manor and bore with his grandfather's sour comments with stoicism. He had the surprise of a chat with his father on the balcony, away from their guests and to hear praise for his good grades in _History of Magic_. Unlike Lucius, Draco Malfoy did not talk about Quidditch, even if his son had glimpsed him gazing thoughtfully at an old picture of the Slytherin team.

They made a trip to the _Forest of Broceliande_ on New Year's Eve and Scorpius relished the walk under the trees coated with glittering frost. His breath puffed like a small bright cloud and he was holding the hand of his mother who walked smiling gently, wrapped in white fur and wearing a fleecy toque like a Russian queen. Draco was reading aloud the magical inscriptions that appeared along the path to educate the visitors and, from time to time, he would lightly ruffle the blond hair of his son.

In February, for his birthday, Craig Finnigan gave a party in the dorms. It abruptly ended when the ferret, who had stolen too many _Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans_ , started to vomit rainbows in every corner. Terrence, the king of the _Scouring_ charm cleaned up, laughing while Albus apologized a thousand times. Spoon was put on a diet and stayed quiet for a few days. Scorpius ate so many pumpkin pasties and gingerbread that he nearly got sick too. He thought this had been the best birthday party he had ever attended.

It was no longer _enough_ to look at the others from a distance so, one day at lunch, Scorpius resolutely picked up his plate and went to sit at the same table as the ones he dared not call "friends". Terrence gave him a wink, Wendy happily shoved her elbow in his side and nearly cut his breath and Albus offered him a bright smile. At the end of the bench, Craig Finnigan had just swallowed his chanterelle flan and orange smoke was coming out of his ears.

May and June spun at high speed and summer holidays came back again. But this time, on the Platform 9 3/4, Scorpius did not feel his insides knot painfully. He kissed his mother with impetuosity, got into the elegant _coupe_ and spent the evening telling them all about his school year, forgetting to eat some _Strawberry Trifle_ \- his favorite dessert specially prepared by the elves. His grandfather looked astonished. His grandmother was dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief and from time to time, she would let go of a fond chuckle. Draco was sitting very straight in his Empire armchair by the fireplace. He was twirling a _Firewhiskey_ glass between his fingers and his face betrayed no emotion, but Scorpius could read in his mother's gaze that his father was happy.

Over summer, he made a sudden growth spurt and spent hours admiring his new stature in the mirror of his wardrobe, ignoring the mocking comments of it. He however felt ridiculous when he joined the others in their compartment in the _Hogwarts Express_ , on September the 1st. They had all grown up, especially Albus who was now taller than Terrence, but Scorpius was _still_ the smallest. Wendy assured him that he was the one who was doing best, that at least he did not look like a lanky scarecrow - but he did not find it particularly comforting.

When the old castle appeared, cut like a Chinese shadow on the flamboyant autumn sky, they stuck their noses against the windows, oddly touched. Scorpius wondered if growing up always had that effect: a mixture of excitement and nostalgia was bubbling in his belly and he felt like he would do great things during his third year.

Of course, nothing of the sort occurred.

There were some changes: they were now thirteen, which meant they were finally allowed to go to Hogsmeade: it was a topic of endless conversation. _Girls_ also had become more interesting - except Wendy, who was not really considered as such, given the drubbing she'd give you if you commented on her (non-existent) curves or on the feminine gender in general.

Their toothbrushes were not anymore what they compared in the bathroom and Craig Finnigan had stuck pictures next to his old posters of Quidditch that made the heat in the room go up a notch. The elves took them off regularly, but fortunately there were always new undergarment pages in the _Witch Weekly_.

But overall, routine had resumed: lessons, tons of homework and little free time to stroll by the lake in the warm and pleasant breeze. New Seventh years were after Scorpius in between classes and James Potter, who had a good reason to be frustrated, was making his favorite whipping boy miserable whenever he met him alone in a hallway.

The Gryffindor seeker having graduated, Quidditch tryouts were arranged. Then Jeremy Shacklebolt, the new captain, announced James would stay a chaser and that the younger Potter would now be their seeker. For a moment it looked like Albus would refuse the position he had nevertheless made every effort to win, then he shot a strange dark look to his big brother and shook the hand held out to him.

That night, the familiar purr did not lull them and when Terrence and Craig finally fell asleep, Scorpius sat up in bed, his chin propped on his crossed arms, his knees pulled up under his blanket. For a long time he watched the motionless shape of Albus in the bluish darkness, wondering if he would dare to go talk to him, trying to understand why the black-haired boy seemed so grim.

Then he probably fell asleep too, for he woke up the next morning in the bedroom flooded in sunlight when Albus shook his shoulder, saying they were going to be late for S _tudy of Ancient Runes_.

In third year, they had to choose elective courses. Scorpius noticed that Wendy had not taken the same as Albus and that Terrence had deliberately registered in the same as Wendy. So, naturally, he enrolled in the same as Albus.

When they were going up the steps of the long spiral staircase that led them to _Study of Ancient Runes_ , Scorpius always felt a bit drunk. A strange joy fizzed in his stomach and he giggled like a stupid pixie. No one else had taken this elective course in Gryffindor and Rosie Weasley, the only girl they knew, sat with her friends from Ravenclaw. So Scorpius and Albus often found themselves working together on translations. Dust was billowing over their huge syllabary dictionaries, floating in bright sprinkles in the pale light of winter. The sound of pages turned and of quills scribbling on parchment was something peaceful, sweet, perfectly happy.

On top of the tower, they were far from everything and Scorpius loved this exhilarating feeling of freedom.

 _As if he owned the world. As if there was nothing to hide, nothing to pretend, nothing more to desire._

From time to time, Albus looked up from his homework and smiled.

 _To him – only to him._

Autumn gave way to winter. The twelve Christmas trees rose in the Great Hall, dusted with snow that tasted like powdered sugar. Over the frozen lake, the bells tinkled merrily as sleds carried teachers and students to Hogsmeade. Albus, Scorpius and Terrence bought a whole load of sweets and got attacked by the rabid dog that guarded _Honeydukes_ backyard when they were looking for a shortcut to go to the _Three Broomsticks_. Something strange happened then, something none of them could explain. They fared without a scratch, to the surprise of the owner who came out in haste upon hearing the ferocious barking and who found his mastiff whining and drooling, rolling at the feet of Albus like a puppy.

Wendy brought back a bottle of butterbeer for Lily Potter, who was in first year in Gryffindor and the girl gave her a radish necklace that looked like the one their new _Transfiguration_ teacher, Luna Lovegood, was wearing.

In January, as mysteriously as in the years before, James and the Seventh years stopped making life complicated for Scorpius. He had learned to defend himself by then, but he was relieved not to have to watch his back in the hallways or to have to throw anti-smudge charms on his dissertations in case they would end up wet or trampled by muddy shoes.

In March, Spoon died. Even though the ferret had always been nasty with him, something pinched Scorpius' heart when he realized the small creature was curled up, stiff and cold, in the fold of the canopy where it usually slept.

In the pale morning light that bathed the terribly silent room, Albus, barefoot, wearing his pajamas, his black hair tousled as usual, cradled the ferret in his arms. He did not utter a word, but hot tears streamed down his cheeks, pearling at his long dark eyelashes.

Scorpius felt like his heart was going to break. Craig Finnigan muttered it was really sad and stared at the floor. Terrence fished an empty shoebox from under his bed, stuffed it with cotton wool and offered it to serve as a coffin.

When they left the Gryffindor common room with Lily and Wendy, they passed by James who was playing with a quaffle ( _he had not touched a golden snitch since his brother had become Seeker_ ) lying casually on the scarlet sofa. He straightened up and sniggered, asking if they had planned enough seats for all the rats, lizards and other creatures that would surely come to the funeral "to give support to their Cinderella in her loss."

Scorpius had felt fear, hatred and disgust toward Potter, but for the first time in his life, he felt _pity_ for him. James might have been athletic, cool, popular and good-looking, he would never have what Albus possessed. People easily became friends with him, they covered him with compliments and sought his admiration, but they gave him no real loyalty.

Scopius was certain that if _James_ had been crying, there would have been no desolation and gloom all over the Gryffindor Tower like it was the case on that day. It was like a coldness that seeped everywhere... and then there was a dizzying whiff of raw anger.

Albus had lifted his green eyes.

His brother was the one who looked away.

Then the feeling of sadness came back with a shiver under their skin and they went down to Hagrid's hut, yet again not understanding what had happened.

Bert Hammersmith, the keeper of keys, dug a hole near a birch, then stepped back and waited with compassion, holding his big spade. The giant hare of Flanders was standing next to him and the wind was brushing backwards his scruffy fur.

Professor Douglas, who taught _Runes_ and who had often allowed the ferret to perch up on the blackboard with a chalk as a snack, asked Albus if he wanted someone to say a few words, but the boy shook his head, lips fiercely pursed. The man gently squeezed his shoulder, then went back to the castle, holding his bowler hat, his coat flapping in the wind.

A few drops crashed on the lid of the cardboard box and made translucent halos. Lily and Wendy were holding Albus' hands and were crying.

Rosie Weasley and her brother Hugo, who had so many freckles it looked like he had painted them, put flowers in the pit. Scorpius wondered what they were doing there, and then he remembered they were cousins with the Potters.

Then Terrence cleared his throat and suggested timidly to close the grave before the _Hufflepuff_ Quidditch team would come back from training. Albus nodded weakly. He was very pale and was shivering, as if he were cold.

Scorpius took off his jacket and put it over his friend's shoulders. He wished he could do so much more.

When Bert Hammersmith was done tamping the last shovelful, Albus whispered in a shaky voice: "I wish Dad were here" and Lily stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

That night, there was no purr either and Scorpius, who was not asleep, saw something very strange. One by one, house elves apparated in the room, as silent as stars reflecting in a pond. They gathered around Albus' bed and joined hands. Their large ears and small bony bodies stood out in the dark and their big golden eyes gleamed mysteriously. Then they began to sing so softly that Scorpius, hidden under his blankets, thought at first he was only hearing blood pounding in his ears.

After a moment, they faded away - or perhaps Scorpius finally fell asleep, lulled by their chant.

In the morning, there was no trace of their passage.

It was not the first time something inexplicable occurred and it was not the last either. During _Defense Against the Dark Arts_ in the supervised swimming part of the lake, one of the grindylows they were studying tore open the safety net and attacked Jane Caradoc who was practicing her stunning spell. Albus, who was paired with her, rushed to help without listening to Professor Curtis who was shouting he needed to get away, her voice oddly distorted by the bubble that allowed her to breathe. Seconds later, the Grindylow was swimming away. It had left large red marks on the arms of the poor traumatized girl, but it had not killed her.

Albus explained to the angry teacher he had _just_ tried to free Jane and that the creature had immediately fled.

The others lost interest in the matter when the next visit to Hogsmeade was announced, but Scorpius and Terrence classified the case in a corner "not to forget" in their heads.

Wendy had a fight with Jane Caradoc afterwards and nobody understood why, but it went unnoticed in the frenzy of Quidditch training. That year, Gryffindor lost _both_ the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup, and then they found themselves again aboard the _Hogwarts Express_ on their way back home.

Craig Finnigan and his two friends ate almost their weight in candy while studying a new magazine they had bought in Hogsmeade: it was called _Blue Laces_ and its content was very dubious. Terrence dozed almost all the way to London. He had a yellowish bandage around his head - _his latest experiment had gone wrong_ \- and his face was dotted with weird little warts. Albus played chocolate frog cards with his sister until she majestically announced she would now go see her friends. Scorpius looked up from his book and an amused smile tugged at his lips as he watched her leave the compartment. Then he jumped when Albus leaned against him to read over his shoulder.

Wendy came back from the bathroom, dressed again like a young lady from the High Society, and slumped on the seat in front of them. She looked sullen, but her expression gradually became envious and miserable.

But Scorpius was too focused to notice.

Albus had fallen asleep against him and he would certainly not wake him up by making a sudden movement.

Then the train pulled into _King's Cross Station_ and stopped noisily, throwing them all over each other. The trunks fell from the nets, the whistle of the locomotive pierced their eardrums and the first cries of joy rang on the platform.

Their third year was over.

During summer holidays, Scorpius turned fourteen and the night of his birthday, he suddenly learned why students who had never looked at him before would suddenly become bullies when they would start their seventh year.

It was an accident.

A storm was coming on that night. The sky was low, the dark purple clouds were puffy and veined in red. The air was terribly hot, thick, and oppressive. Astoria Malfoy had deployed a dozen charms to keep the pergola fresh and nice, but once you were setting foot in the garden, you were dripping with sweat. The elves were going back and forth with grills and salad platters, pitchers of iced lemonade and champagne. The women were in bare shoulders, dressed in beautiful dresses made of shimmering silk, and Scorpius was glad he was still young enough to wear a shirt with short sleeves. As for Lucius and Draco, they were strapped in elegant suits whose sleeves were buttoned impeccably.

They toasted and a mountain of richly beribboned gifts appeared on a wrought iron table, while trays of delicate pastries circulated among the guests.

Scorpius stuffed some _Strawberry Trifle_ in his mouth and nearly choked on it, because at the same time, his father turned to him and asked him to thank the guests.

Then thunder rumbled over the house and there was a flash of lightning, followed by a tumble of broken glass and screams.

Scorpius had shut his eyes instinctively and when he opened them, it was chaos. One of the big windows on the ground floor had been shattered. There were shards of glass everywhere, crunching under his soles, and drops of blood had splattered the white marble terrace.

He looked up and paled.

A dark stain was widening on the sleeve of his father's jacket and something was shining on his forearm. Draco was white as a sheet and his pursed lips had lost all color.

Another lightning shot out, immediately followed by another blast of thunder and then rain began to fall hard and tight.

Draco staggered, looking around him as if he was in a trance or about to faint, then he hurried inside of the house.

\- "Darling!" cried the distraught voice of Astoria and Scorpius cringed.

People were talking all at once, the rain was thrumming with violence on the roof of the pergola, his grandmother was moaning and Lucius was barking orders to the elves who were running all over the place to help the guests and clean up the broken glass.

Scorpius rushed through the shattered door and across the living room. In the corridor, he did not need to follow the trail of blood droplets on the green carpet to find out that his father had gone upstairs. He climbed the steps four at four and rushed to the bathroom.

The thunder broke out again, with a dazzling purple lightning shot and all lights flickered and went out, as if the magic of the mansion had suddenly no more strength.

Scorpius hit his knee against a cabinet and stifled a curse. He blinked, trying to get used to the dark and found the bathroom door.

He heard his father's voice mutter a spell, then the room was filled with a bluish glow, shimmering on the white ceramic tiles. Scorpius was about to come in, but _something_ stopped him: a cold shudder down his spine, a shiver on his clammy skin.

He cast a glance inside, silently.

Magical flames were dancing in front of the mirror. Draco was leaning against the sink, breathing heavily. He had taken off his jacket and dropped it to the floor. He was staring at his left arm, sleeveless, with the glossy shard stuck in it. Scorpius could almost see the trembling of the muscles under the skin smeared with blood.

Draco drew a deep breath. Then he pulled out the shard of glass, hissed in pain and doubled over, gasping.

Scorpius was about to come in and help, but then he froze.

There was _something_ on his father's arm.

 _The horrible black tattoo of a coiled snake and a skull._

 _A drawing that looked awfully like the one his tormentors had carved on his arm during his first year._

Draco gasped, his nails clutching his wrist, and the infamous inscription rippled as if it was feeding on his pain.

Scorpius had stopped breathing and he did not feel the brush against his shoulder when his mother walked past him. The door closed, but not completely. The latch clicked against the doorframe.

\- "You should have waited for me", said Astoria's voice with compassion. "You know you can't be healed by magic when the wound is close to the mark..."

\- "Where's Scorpius?" Draco panted. "I don't want him to see...to know… my shame..."

Scorpius felt his throat clog.

There were _sobs_ in his father's voice.

\- "Shhh... Scorpius is downstairs", softly said Astoria. "Let me take care of you."

The boy's legs wobbled.

 _His mother was lying._

 _She had necessarily seen him._

In the bathroom, water was flowing, someone was opening a closet, moving boxes.

\- "If only", Draco spat bitterly. "If only I had been stronger... if I..."

\- "You couldn't have gone against Lord Voldemort", whispered his wife.

\- "Do not mention _his name_!"

\- "It wasn't fair. You were only a child..."

\- "Harry was the same age and _he_ did not..."

\- "Shh", gently repeated Astoria. "It's useless to torture yourself..."

\- "If Scorpius was Harry's son, he wouldn't have to carry our shame."

 _Oh, how broken was that voice._

 _Desperate, hateful, exhausted, plaintive._

 _Like the voice of a trapped teenager._

There was a rustle of silk and Scorpius guessed his mother had taken his father in her arms.

\- "Scorpius will be fine. He knows nothing of your past... He'll never need to know. It's over, Draco Malfoy. It was a long time ago. The nightmare's over, now. You're free..."

The rain was drumming against the windows and the storm was roaring outside, as lightning shots stabbed the darkness.

Downstairs, under the pergola, in the warmth of candles lit by the elves, the guests were back to the party carelessly. Lucius was sipping a glass of champagne, leaning against a column, and his hand was trembling like one of a drunkard. His wife was glancing at him while graciously welcoming the VIPs who had deigned to come to the young Malfoy's birthday and who may help to restore their soiled name.

Upstairs, in the dark corridor, Scorpius was clenching his fists, his throat so dry it felt like it had been rubbed with a grater.

In the bathroom, Astoria was bandaging the bloodstained Death Eaters' mark with gauze and Draco was crying silently.

These summer holidays marked the end of Scorpius' childhood. He never told his mother of what he had seen and heard that night, and she never mentioned it either. From September onwards, he began to write to his father several times a week. He was telling him all that went through his head, all about his life, all that he cared about: his mad dorm mates, Terrence's incredible tests and theories, the piercings with which Wendy had come back after the break, the beauty that was in everything revolving around Albus.

He filled his letters with his love for his father, with the peace born every night with the purring, with the explosive and joyful evenings in the common room, with the thrill of Quidditch games, with Pernickety Nick's funny OCDs, with the quietness of autumn light and the soft dusty smell of old books in S _tudy of Ancient Runes_.

He became stronger; he was putting on a wry and nonchalant attitude; he smoothed back his almost white blond hair. He was full of hope.

He dreamed that his letters would relieve his father from his burden; he wished with all his heart that one day he would find the courage to stand in front of the man and to tell him how proud he was to be the son of a Death Eater who had turned his back on his master.

He dared asking Neville Longbottom, the Gryffindors' reference teacher about the mark. At first the man looked uneasy and refused to answer his questions. Then he sighed sadly and finally did not revealed much of anything, just explained what the mark meant and told Scorpius he had known his father.

Scorpius tried to imagine the lanky brown-haired man who was teaching them _Herbology_ and a younger version of Draco laughing together like Craig Finnigan and Samuel Flinch-Fletchley. Then he remembered his father had done his schooling in Slytherin at a time when people did not mixed with the other houses.

He didn't tell Albus or the others about his father's past.

For Christmas, he went back to the mansion and showed especially attentive to his grandfather. Lucius, delighted, spent hours telling him about the Malfoys' former glory and going through old trunks full of memories in the attic.

His mother and grandmother were teasing him about Wendy: they knew some parts of his letters by heart and were convinced that he was in love. He did not try to disabuse them.

Draco was watching him, sitting in his high backrest armchair, not saying a thing, as if trying to understand the change that had taken place in his so shy son.

Back to school, Scorpius resumed the routine that was so dear to him. Climbing up the spiral staircases to _Study of Ancient Runes_ , studying shoulder against shoulder with Albus for hours. Looking for his things in their messy dorm and trying not to be contaminated by the shady stuff foaming in Terrence's cauldrons. Listening to Wendy telling him about Quidditch workouts with so big gestures that she almost took your eyes out if you were sitting too close to her. Bearing with the hysterical giggles of Finnigan and Flinch-Fletchley when they were deep into their favorite magazine. Passing by James Potter in the hallways of Hogwarts and enjoying the fact he did not try to bully him anymore. Glaring calmly at Seventh years attempting to engage in hostilities and going away unscathed. Writing to his father and showing him life could be different.

Then in April, everything changed.

First there was the Boggart who betrayed all the fears he thought he had overcome. Then Harry Potter tried to kill his son and, finally, Scorpius found himself in the gallery of portraits, alone with Albus and the painting of a professor named Severus Snape.

He confessed his secret.

Then Albus revealed his own.

From that day forward, their destinies were inextricably linked.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Scorpius shifted in his sleep. He was hot and something heavy was weighing on his chest. A drop of sweat trickled down his temple. The fleeting images of Hogwarts gave way to his old nightmare of the war in the Hebrides. Then he suddenly found himself in a cave with walls of ice and saw his face appear all around him, huge and pale.

\- "You know you never will..." whispered a voice that frightened and fascinated him at once.

There was an explosion of black feathers, a green blaze, then he saw Albus lying on the ground and he knew he was dead and that it was his fault.

Someone coughed and, with a cry of despair, Scorpius jerked awake in the living room of the Observation Tower.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: LITTLE THINGS HURT THE MOST_**


	10. Little Things Hurt The Most

**LITTLE THINGS HURT THE MOST**

* * *

To say that Terrence was not _very happy_ when he learnt Scorpius and Albus had spent the night on the sofa in the living room would have been a bit _weak_. He literally imploded with anger, then grabbed his best friend by the collar of his shirt and dragged him off to the sickbay.

Günter's gaze followed them sympathetically, then when the door slammed behind them, he turned to the blond young man who had remained silent throughout the tirade of the irate healer. The team leader said nothing, but his kind blue eyes registered Scorpius' flushed cheeks, his pursed lips, the way his slender fingers were crossing and uncrossing nervously.

Günter reached out, gently squeezed the government agent's shoulder then left in a rustling of his ratty robes.

\- "Sweet times, but you were having a nightmare", said Pepper's high-pitched voice.

Scorpius glowered at him.

\- "Words one keeps to oneself for too long will eventually fester", the elf added, eyeing the young man from under his half-closed eyelids. "Maybe the young Malfoy should consider what Calcifer told him before it's too late."

Scorpius shuddered.

\- "Go away", he snapped.

The elf's bushy eyebrows furrowed disapprovingly. He joined his spindly fingers under his crooked chin.

\- "Free Elves do not have to follow orders", he replied with a sly tone.

The young man let out a wry laugh.

\- "If _you_ are free, then I am too."

\- "People can only be free when _choosing_ to let go of what holds them back", sententiously said Pepper.

There was an eerie golden glow in his big bulging eyes. Scorpius looked away and left the room almost as if he was running away, clutching his fingers on his left arm.

 _Why were dreams always turning into nightmares when they lasted for too long?_

A few floors up above, Wendy was asking herself the same question.

In the sickbay, Terrence was just done giving Albus a thorough check-up. He took off his stethoscope and threw it in a silver tray, then gestured his office chair to come closer. The wand dosed the spell wrong and the seat bumped in his hip.

\- "Ouch", he groaned exasperatedly, rubbing the painful spot, before sitting down.

Albus took off his sweater, then looked at his best friend, half-amused, half-sorry. His empty trouser leg was pinned above the knee and you could see the stump. There was a hole in the sock of his good foot that was dangling off the leather bed.

\- "Are you done being mad?" he asked.

Terrence shot him a dark glare.

\- "Makes you _laugh_? Do you think I have nothing else to do than taking care of your sweet little health? I _wish_ I could spend some time studying the Muggles' tissue samples, but _no_ , I can't. You _had_ to risk aggravating this damn fever by spending the night in a cold room – on a _sofa_!"

\- "I'm not so sick", protested Albus with enough good taste to look down. "I even feel better than yesterday evening. Dewis..."

\- "WHO'S THE HEALER, HERE?" Terrence bawled. "For _once_ in your life, will you listen to someone other than your – your _heart_?! I don't care what the _dragon_ thinks of this situation. All I see is that you have an infection and that it could go very wrong. We're stuck at the ends of the world, I don't know if you get it! I'm _responsible_ for you, Al!"

Albus' cheeks caught fire.

\- "It's going to be okay", he assured awkwardly. "You're the b..."

\- "Do you have any idea how worried we got when we came to see how you were doing this morning? No one in the room, the window open! We thought you had changed into Toothess, that you were gone, that..."

Terrence's voice broke and he suddenly looked exhausted. He pulled off the band holding back his long blond hair and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Albus felt his heart sink.

There were deep shadows under the eyes of his best friend, hidden behind the round glasses, and his cheeks seemed more hollow than six months earlier when he had landed in Antartica.

\- "I'm sorry, Ter", Albus whispered.

\- "It's not to me you should say that", retorted the young healer bitterly. "You _always_ think it's your fault when the world goes wrong, but you _never_ figure that it's the little things that hurt. Don't you get how much Wendy hurt? Or what you're doing to Scorpius?"

Albus opened huge eyes. He had turned pale.

\- "Scorpius?" he repeated, puzzled.

\- "Yes, _Scorpius_ ", Terrence sighed, leaning against the back of his chair and closing his eyes for a moment.

\- "What do you mean?"

The healer opened his eyes and shook his head.

\- "It's not for me to tell you."

His blond hair looked like wilted wheat on his shoulders. His eyes were hard.

\- "But I won't let you keep treating Wendy this way", he rasped. "She endured enough, waited enough, and suffered enough. I'm tired of your whining. If you can't choose between the dragon and her, then I..."

Albus' green eyes blazed.

\- "Then what?"

Terrence ran a hand over his weary face.

\- "Then I don't know", he muttered. "Are we going to fight? That's ridiculous. It's you she loves, it's been like this from the beginning. Why are we talking about this? I just wanted..."

He seemed close to tears and Albus' anger gave way to worry.

\- "You're dead tired", he said.

\- "No, M' not", Terrence mumbled. "Well ... yes, I am... doesn't matter, anyway. There's something odd. I get angry all the time for no reason. I'm sure it's because of the Axis..."

He got up, stumbled in the room like if he was lost, then turned to his best friend with an apologetic grimace.

\- "You should be in bed with a hot water bottle and a reinvigorating potion. I'm the worst. So, will you _really_ ask her? You won't shirk, this time? Al, I..."

He wobbled, bringing a hand to his neck.

\- "In the train, that day... _it's burning_... you know, if Wendy had not chosen you, I'd... maybe, in fact, the opening of the Axis is just a collective hallucination. What d'you think?"

He raised his arms, spun on his heels with a cackle.

\- "Maybe it's a phenomena meant to make us believe in the Shufflers of Light… _she had such a nice smile... and_ _so_ _sad_ eyes... and that's why there's no real trace of what's on the other side of the Gate!"

Albus had grabbed the prosthesis leaning against the base of the examination bed and was tying it hastily, his eyes never leaving the healer who was staggering as if he was drunk.

\- "Ter. Terrence, listen to me. Sit down, please. You really look sick."

\- "Don't be silly. Nothing will happen to me - I'm not the hero", the blond man slurred, pulling up his hair in a messy ponytail. " _She was so worried she couldn't breathe._ _If it'd been me_... I wonder _how_ Euphrosine got these pictures of the Shufflers. Do you think she saw _them_? How long do you think she's been living in Antarctica?"

He swayed on his long legs. Albus hobbled toward him and caught him when he fell, twisted in his white coat. The prosthesis unbuckled and they lost their balance, found themselves on the rubbery and lukewarm floor of the sickbay.

Albus sat up with a grunt. His best friend had fallen on top of him.

\- "You okay?"

Terrence did not try to get up. He was pressing a hand on his neck and was squinting in pain.

\- "Bloody hell. It _hurts_ ", he mumbled. "Al… if she doesn't accept you, I can try my luck, can't I? That'd be only fair... do you think Calcifer comes from the Axis? _I'm so tired_..."

He groaned weakly, then didn't move anymore.

With a wince of pain, Albus leaned over to grab the prosthesis and squirmed a bit to put it back on properly. Then he gently slid the inert body of his best friend off his knees and looked for his wand.

Fifteen minutes later, Terrence was tucked in one of the sickbay's beds, an ice bag wrapped in a towel under his head. He was snoring softly, his lips slightly parted. Three people were at his bedside, looking at him with concern.

\- "He must have been sorely sleep deprived", said Günter.

His serious gaze went from the sleeper to Wendy who was smoothing the blanket fondly.

\- "He was _delirious_!" Albus insisted.

His black curls were plastered on his forehead that was beaded with sweat. He frequently brought a hand to his chest, as if something was stuck in his lungs, bothering him.

\- "Maybe the Muggles' sickness..."

\- "I doubt so", interrupted Günter.

\- "The is it because of the Axis? But you never said we would fall sick! Something's affecting us. The bleeding words, these mood swings, the nightmares, the-"

Albus paused and blushed violently.

\- "The dragon", completed the team leader, looking at him in the eyes. "It's no longer under your control."

Wendy let out a small squeal.

\- "He saw you the other night", she explained hurriedly, as if she was afraid Albus' furious glance would turn again into terse words.

\- "When I came here, you said the Axis would open a passage to ancient knowledge", said the young man, pushing back in his brain the new problem that had risen. "You claimed it would be like going down a tunnel that would lead us to a protected place! You _never_ mentioned it was _alive_!"

The word hung in the room, heavy with anxiety and reproach.

Günter nibbled his lips, joining his hands behind his back.

\- "I did not know it would be like this", he said slowly.

\- "You spent your _life_ looking for the Gate! How could you not know?" Albus growled, fists clenched.

\- "Calm down, Al", Wendy whispered, standing up and touching his arm.

\- "You're putting us all in danger!" hissed the young man.

\- "Nonsense", cut in Euphrosine's voice from the door. "Günter Von Wartbach has nothing to do with what's happening to us."

\- "Then it's Calcifer! He wants to turn us against each other, to confuse us!"

The old woman snorted sarcastically.

\- "Don't you know that what's boiling in the cauldron was already there before you lit the fire?"

She walked to the bed, looked at Terrence for a moment with such a sad expression that Albus again felt his anger vanish. Wendy raised an eyebrow.

\- "How would you know?" she asked. "Did it happen before?"

Günter cleared his throat, as if to spare the witch from answering, but the old woman turned to the girl and smiled.

Many years had wrinkled her tanned skin. The short white braid on her nape, her opulent chest, her out of fashion blue dress and her corny slippers made her look like a gentle grandmother. Her false teeth crunched as she struggled again against her own jaws to try to speak. Then she took a deep breath, reached out and touched Wendy's cheek, while a tear rolled down her hooked nose to her jutting neck.

\- "My child, when you are young, you're overwhelmed by your feelings. You must learn to understand them, to tame them - otherwise you may lose everything."

\- "But..."

\- "We never love _too much_ , dear. But sometimes we love _wrong_."

In the silence of the sickbay, Günter bowed his head and stifled a sigh.

\- "What do you mean?" Albus asked softly.

\- "You'll understand later", said the magician. "Now, let's leave poor Terrence to his rest. He won't be able to sleep this peacefully before a long time..."

Wendy shivered when the old calloused hand left her cheek.

\- "Yes", she said absently. "Let him sleep..."

\- "I'll stay with him for a while", said Günter before Albus could utter a word. "He'll be fine."

Albus and Wendy left the sickbay with Euphrosine and went down to the common room where there was no one. Scorpius was probably in his office, Pepper down in the boiler den, Vivienne in her room. Christopher had left earlier for the _Whale Carcass_ and Matilda was working in her laboratory, studying the snow flower with awe.

Euphrosine muttered something about the Shadows Nibblers and hobbled down the spiral staircases. Albus and Wendy gave a handful of paper clips to Koff, who began to chew them with gusto, then went to the lobby.

\- "I'll go for a ride", Albus said without really looking at Wendy. "D'you want to come along?"

She bit her lips, stayed silent for a few seconds, then lifted her gray eyes and glared at him.

\- "Okay", she said curtly. "But I'm only coming because Terrence forbade you to do so and because you'll need help if you collapse."

\- "I won't _collapse_ ", Albus grumbled. "I'm fine. He's not. He better take care of his own body before giving advice to others."

He blushed before the end of his sentence. Again, the strange anger had shaken him, infecting his thoughts and words before he could stop himself.

Wendy only shrugged. She put on her cloak and her mittens, wrapped around her neck the long wool scarf Hermione Granger had sent her. Albus stuffed his untidy black hair under a woolen cap and buttoned up his khaki coat. The tawny fur of the hood made him look like if he had a fox curled up on his shoulders. He grabbed two brooms in the rack next to the dischilblaining machine and handed one to the girl.

\- "We'll go faster", he said.

\- "We'll be back sooner", she retorted with an annoyed chin gesture to get rid of her short brown hair.

Outside, the weather was so good the snow was dazzling. The sky was very high and of a perfectly pure sapphire blue. The vast white plain was whizzing beneath them, unspoiled by footprints.

They saw the deep ice rift where they had found themselves trapped the previous summer, watched a bench of penguins sun-bathing under the blazing light of Antarctica, flew above _Sarcophagus_ _Cove_ , searching in vain the cloud of steam of a humpback whale. Sea lions were lounging on the waves and dived when they spotted them.

The icy wind was stinging their faces. They slowed down to land on _Detour Hill_ , an iron-shaped hill whose sunken belly was fringed with glistening stalactites. Wendy jumped lithely to the ground and barely sank. The snow covering the ice-coated ground was not very deep, but soft and delicate like frosting on a cake.

\- "What are you looking for here?" she asked, turning to Albus who was dismounting.

They both were breathless and red-faced from being whipped by cold drafts.

\- "Answers", he replied evasively.

He pulled out his wand from his pocket while she drew a telescope from her own and proceeded to assemble a snowman. When Wendy was done looking around, she found next to her a big potbellied fellow, wearing Albus' cap, with gloves standing for hands, a wrinkled carrot for nose and two buttons for eyes.

\- "Hi there", she giggled.

The snowman bowed his huge round head, then ran off in clumsy leaps.

\- "Hey, come back!" Albus shouted. "This hat was a gift from my grandmother!"

He ran after his masterpiece which was going down the slope and Wendy followed them, laughing.

Their two broomsticks stayed alone, shoved in the snow on _Detour Hill_ like flags.

\- "Olaf! Come here at once!"

\- " _Olaf_? Couldn't you come up with something better? It's a lame name, he'll never answer! Hey, Eugene! Wait for us!"

\- "Olaf!"

They caught up at the bottom of the slope, tackled the snowman and got back the hat. Olaf struggled free and started hopping in circles around them, clearly upset, waving his gloves. Wendy took pity and made a tuft of ice on the top of his head. He then seemed content enough and settled in the plain, looking quite proud.

\- "Where did you find a carrot?" asked the girl, lying in the snow next to Albus who was laughing.

\- "I had it in my pocket. Must be from when we were emptying the aerostat. Koff exploded a box of veggies, there were carrots everywhere. We picked them up as we could."

Wendy dusted off her jeans then leaned back, blinking at the scorching white light of Antarctica. There were crystals clinging to her short brown hair, her breath puffed up in a small bright cloud and the tip of her nose was red and shiny.

\- "It looks like a cherry", Albus commented.

\- "What?"

\- "Your nose."

She sighed.

\- "It's not going to work", she warned.

Albus lay in the snow too, joining his hands behind his head.

\- "What?"

\- "Your tactics to get to me."

There was a moment of hushed silence, during which a flock of Trillers became interested in Olaf and came to surround him with hundreds of translucent wings.

\- "I wasn't trying to redeem myself", finally said Albus. "I know I shouldn't have yelled at you last night."

\- "Yeah. You shouldn't have", confirmed Wendy who took out her own wand and started to shape the snow into another round and clumsy figure.

\- "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

She puffed her cheek, then blew and dropped her wand. Transparent chirping birds were whirling around the snowmen.

\- "What's going to happen to us, Al?" she muttered, turning to the young man.

He looked at her in the eyes.

\- "I don't know", he said softly.

Wendy bit her lower lip. Her silky gray orbs misted up.

\- "I don't like it when there're golden flecks in your eyes", she whispered, leaning toward him. "It's like you're not quite yourself..."

They lips touched and she kissed him softly.

\- "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Albus asked sheepishly when she straightened up, not pushing off the hand he had put on her neck.

Wendy did not answer, but she also lay in the soft snow and nuzzled against him, burying her cheek in the warm fur of his hood.

\- "I don't like fighting with you", she mumbled.

\- "I don't like it either", Albus replied.

Above them, the very blue sky seemed endless and the Trillers were disappearing in it like bright drops as they were soaring to the sun.

\- "When Euphrosine touched my cheek, I... I saw something. Blurry pictures. The Pumpkin vehicle I'm repairing, the Tower in a blizzard, an old boat. There was a man with a funny costume and a large hall with columns of black stone... and a crying dog. I mean, it wasn't _really_ crying, not with tears, at least, but it was howling in agony."

Wendy shuddered. She could still feel the sadness that had overwhelmed her during the flashes.

\- "And then there was a light. A very beautiful light - and a shadow that was just as big and without which it could not exist..."

Albus tightened his arm around the girl, feeling her tremble.

\- "And then I saw... Calcifer. He... was dancing."

Now she was crying and she did not even know why.

\- "I'm scared", she stammered, clinging to his coat. "We shouldn't have tried to find the Axis..."

Albus rolled to the side and cuddled her.

\- "We'll be fine", he promised, kissing her forehead.

\- "I like it better when you say you're scared too", she muttered, frowning.

He chuckled.

\- "Yes, but it's not _cool_ to do so."

\- "Ha-ha."

Wendy snuggled against him. She was a bit cold.

\- "Tomorrow, it's Christmas. Can't you tell me now?"

Albus shook his head with an enigmatic smile. She grunted, then straightened up, as if crossed by a sudden thought, and touched his cheek.

\- "You're burning up", she sighed. "Terrence is so going to kill us."

The magic was broken and he sat up, unhappy.

\- "We should go", said Wendy, brushing off the snow clinging to his coat and hers, swallowing back her disappointment.

There were golden sparkles in the green eyes of Albus.

\- "Not before I see what I came for", he countered firmly.

Olaf had noticed the other snowman and glanced at it. He came closer, waddling, still surrounded by a flock of translucent birds, hopped around the white figure cautiously, then furtively snuggled against it.

\- "What do you want to... _oh_ ", Wendy exclaimed when the snout of a fox showed up from behind a mound of snow.

Albus crouched down and held out his hand, crooning.

The white fox cocked his head to the side. He had golden eyes fringed with black velvet, thin silky ears and a frill of immaculate fur. He hesitated, then came out of hiding and trotted toward the young man, lifting up his tail like a blue flame burning under the sun.

He sniffed Albus' fingers then licked them.

\- "What is he smelling? Does he like carrots?" chirped Wendy who was dying to touch the fox but was afraid he would bit her.

\- "No, it's a slice of bacon."

\- "Was that in your _pocket_ too?"

Albus giggled.

\- "Sorry. I plan in advance."

\- "Is this the kind of stuff you fed me last summer when we were stuck in the ice rift? Al, but it's yucky!"

He only chuckled. The fox had flattened his ears when she had raised her voice, but he relaxed. Another appeared from behind the mound and two cubs waded toward the two humans. Their waving tails were glowing orange and they were as chubby and fluffy as kittens. They tumbled on top of each other in the deep snow, whimpering happily.

Then a short, imperative yelp sounded in the plain and all ears pricked up. The baby foxes ran to the female that had not come too close and she snapped her teeth to hurry them towards the call.

The white fox that was still with Albus yapped then spun round and fled off in a few graceful leaps.

\- "Let's go!" cried the young man, grabbing Wendy's hand. "We need to follow them!"

They ran, sinking in the soft snow that came up to their knees, skirted _Detour Hill_ and eventually stopped, out of breath, watching the family of foxes disappear like a mist on the trembling white horizon of the plain.

\- "Do you think they could have led us to the Gate?" Wendy panted.

Albus did not answer right away. His eyes were staring at something and the girl followed his gaze.

There was an egg-shaped jewelry box, encrusted with rubies, half buried in the snow.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Christopher Cadwallader was coming down to the boiler den with a new load of lava rocks when he heard voices. He was soaked, cold and tired, but he suddenly forgot all his troubles, and crouched in the dark stairwell to listen better.

\- "Blast you, Calcifer", was saying Euphrosine wearily. "If you had not cursed me, we could have found the Gates the last time they opened. I could have told them about the signs. And now, History will repeat itself."

\- "You brought it on you", replied the high-pitched voice of the daemon in the fireplace. "If Pendragon had not caught me and if you had been able to read the wall mural, then neither you nor I would have lost our hearts and we would not be prisoners of the Tower."

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter_** ** _: MIDNIGHT_**


	11. Midnight

**MIDNIGHT**

* * *

When Albus and Wendy went back to _Inlandsis Station_ , the night was beginning to lie on the plain. An ethereal vapor was rising above the ice and the snow was crunching under their soles. The tower stood in the darkness like a crooked chimney with lots of orange eyes, warm and welcoming, under the violet vault filled with stars.

Inside, the spirit of Christmas was all over the place.

The spiral staircases were filled with the delicious scent of mulled wine. With their wands, Euphrosine and Vivienne were hanging to the ceiling glittering globes and candy canes. Magic snow was sprinkled on the thick forest green carpet and enchanted frost fringes shimmered on the windows and above the mahogany doors.

Someone had casted an amplification charm on Albus' phonograph. The catchy voice of the _Andrews Sisters_ and the nostalgic rustle of a diamond tip on an old record were spreading a cozy atmosphere.

In the living room, Günter and Matilda were creating garlands of white roses. There was a huge pile of chocolates wrapped in colorful bright papers standing as Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Large wool socks decorated with red tassels were stuffed with gifts and hanging along the walls, in between the paintings rustling of joyous excitement.

The aroma of the turkey stuffed with prunes was coming from the Galley. Pepper was wearing a toque taller than him and had tied an impeccable apron at his skinny hips. Standing on a stool, he was roasting small golden potatoes. Behind him were bowls full of whipped cream, dishes of crunchy vegetables cooked to perfection and tons of amazing pies – and the elf had a lot on his plate to prevent occasional visitors from dragging their fingers in the creamy sauces or the sparkling icings.

The table was laid in the common room, with a starched tablecloth, cutlery silver and beautiful porcelain plates in which angels were winking. The chandeliers were shimmering in the light of candles and their glass pendants were tinkling softly.

Under the crystal dome, Scorpius and Christopher were preparing the material for the transmission of the B.A.T.S. with their families. Wendy hastened to join them and Albus went looking for someone to help, taking with him Koff that Cadwallader, running out of patience, was about to throw off the terrace. The mini-monster was burping loudly: he had wolfed down several screwdrivers and one of them was flashing a green light inside his chubby belly.

Since everyone was busy and always telling him he looked horrible and should better go rest before Christmas Eve, Albus headed to the sickbay. He lightly knocked on the door then slipped inside, lighting his wand with a soft "Lumos".

Terrence was still fast asleep, like when they had left him in the morning. Sprawled on his stomach, his arms dangling on each side of the mattress, he was snoring peacefully, his blonde hair spread around him like hay.

On the bedside table were his glasses, a bowl of soup and a dirty glass in which was some bluish powder residue. The healer had probably woken up sometime in the day and someone had taken care of him.

The sheets were twisted and the blanket was falling. Albus tucked them back carefully, then bent over to examine the mark on the nape of his best friend. The crimson letters looked like fresh cuts.

 _RENOUNCE._

 _What did it mean? Giving up going down into the Axis? Calcifer did not seem to steer them in that direction... Denying someone or abandoning something? But what? Who? Why? And how? It was so confusing…_

The young man sighed. He planted his lit wand in a pot with scissors and syringes, then sat on the desk chair next to the bed. Koff settled comfortably on his lap and let out a new disgusting burp. At the back of the monster's throat, the screwdriver kept making underwater sensor noises.

Albus took from his pocket the jewelry box they had found at _Detour Hill_ and flipped it thoughtfully between his fingers. They had tried warming it up, shaking it, casting spells on the golden clasp, they had not able to open it.

He played with it a moment, trying to imagine what was inside, then his eyelids became heavy and he emptied his mind of all speculation. His breathing was a little wheezing, his chest still felt tight and the nausea would probably soon be back. He had gotten used to fever, like he had had to get used to only having one leg.

 _It was only a matter of keeping acting normally. There was always a solution, nothing was impossible when you were young, brave, determined..._

The jewelry box slipped from his hands and fell to the rubber floor with a muffled sound. Albus' head softly rolled on his shoulder. His dark eyelashes were fluttering on his cheekbones that the fever flushed. The silver spark at the tip of his wand went out with the first moan.

Albus was dreaming.

He was in a large and dark room with a ceiling so high he could not see it. There were ice walls all around him, like giant mirrors in between columns of black stone. He was alone, but he could hear worried voices calling him from far away. He was wearing a strange suit - a pink old-fashioned cloak tied with a dragon-shaped fibula, silk pants and boots with polished buttons.

And in his gloved hands, he was holding a throbbing and glowing warm heart.

There was a terrible rumble, as if the room - _or was it a cave?_ – was about to collapse, and then he saw the strange pumpkin-shaped vehicle that was to take them inside the Axis. A woman was screaming but he did not understand the name she was imploring. His fingers were burning, his eyes also, his whole body was evaporating in thousands of particles.

Everything disappeared. It was dark, so dark.

A star lit up in the night. _No, it was not a star_ : it was a strangely familiar street lamp, surrounded by falling snow flakes. He saw a girl kneeling on the ice and the remains of a small boat. She was cradling something that was gleaming red like embers and she was weeping as if her heart had just been broken forever. She was wearing a blue dress and she had brown hair like Wendy.

Then the incomprehensible pictures gave way to the nightmare that had been haunting him in the last past days. A flame was swelling at the bottom of a chasm and it was shaped like a wide open dragon mouth. It was roaring, but it was not of anger. No, it was calling like a lioness looking for her cub... and then suddenly Albus' body was too small, too tight, too worn-out and he was tearing it open to escape in a whirlwind of ebony feathers.

Albus awoke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat, trembling from the pain that had ripped through him.

He straightened up, panting, ran a hand over his ashen face. Against his leg, he felt the worried muzzle of Koff and suddenly remembered the jewelry box. He fumbled frantically, looking for it, hoping it has not yet been guzzled. He put his hand on it after a few seconds. It was covered in slime, but intact.

He slouched back in the chair, exhausted. He could feel the fever running through his veins like acid. The sickbay lamp lit up on its own without warning, dazzling him, and his stomach twisted. He only had time to mutter " _Accio_ bucket" before he was shaken by a violent nausea. His ears were ringing and he felt as weak as a kitten.

\- " _Aguamenti_ ", someone said and he was handed a glass of water to rinse his mouth.

He accepted it gratefully, drank avidly, then looked up and met the gaze of Terrence who was scratching his chin, yawning.

\- "Spit it out", said the healer in a resigned tone. "You went for a stroll in the snow when I was off to dreamland?"

\- "You never left the room", Albus muttered, sickened by the aftertaste of vomit.

\- "I will not comment on the lameness of that pun", said Terrence who exchanged the empty water glass for a clean towel that smelled much better than the contents of the bucket. "Come on, tell. What was the nightmare about? Don't pretend you were okay. I woke up when you were mumbling 'don't do that'. Does Toothless still want out of the partnership?"

Albus leaned back in the chair.

\- "Yes and no. In the end, the nightmare was about it. But I saw other things... Wendy saw them too when Euphrosine touched her cheek this morning. Well, I _think_ it was the same. There was no dog in mine."

Terrence frowned. He took back the towel and magically cleaned the bucket with a distracted gesture, then sat cross-legged on the bed, putting on his glasses.

\- "What dog? The one from the prophecy? Explain from the beginning."

\- "Euphrosine was weird, when you fainted. She said... I reckon you're right. She knows more than she pretends... well, she touched Wendy's cheek and Wendy had some sort of a vision that frightened her. There was a man with a funny suit and I think I just dreamed of him."

\- "What was he doing?" Terrence asked in an urgent voice.

Albus paused.

\- "I think he's dead. He was burning... well, _I_ was burning... I don't know if I was in his head or if it was fever induced delirium..."

He rubbed his eyes to dispel the dizziness that was suddenly making the room swing. The last picture he had seen before waking up with a start was still imprinted on his retina and every time he thought about it, the nausea came back.

 _It was a boat made in snow, shaped by inexperienced hands... alone in the night, bathed in the pale glow of a big moon..._

Terrence cocked his head to side worriedly, but did not say anything. He grabbed Koff who was running in circles, trying to catch a trombone trapped in its white fur and pinned the monster on his knees, at respectable distance from his glasses.

\- "Why do you make sonar noises, fleabag?" he muttered.

\- "He gobbled up Wendy's sonic screwdriver", answered absently Albus.

His eyes fell on the bowl of soup on the night table and he chinned at it.

\- "You had a visitor?"

A strange smile played on Terrence's lips.

\- "Yes... you'll never guess who... Christopher."

Albus' eyes widened.

\- "Why?"

\- "Well, I don't know", said the young healer, carelessly scratching in between the small horns of the mini-monster who was wriggling in pleasure. "On Christmas Eve, they say miracles happen. Animals talk, Cadwallader shows he can have human feelings..."

His best friend giggled.

\- "What did he want, then?" he asked.

Terrence's face turned serious.

\- "He has dreams too. Of an ice palace, of golden butterflies and fields of flowers, of a drilling vehicle like our Pumpkin. It does sound stupidly bucolic, but I don't think we should neglect it. Oh, and he also heard Euphrosine and Calcifer arguing."

Albus leaned forward.

\- "What were they saying?"

Terrence chewed the inside of his cheek and put Koff on the floor.

\- "It wasn't very clear. They were speaking of a pact or a curse... anyway, t'was fishy. I'll tell you more later, when I'd have had time to think about it. I slept so much my brain is full of kelp. Did I say anything funny when I was woozy?"

Albus raised an eyebrow, but did not insist.

\- "No... well, you babbled lots, but nothing special. You made up theories, but they were completely insane... Ter, do you think the Axis is sending us dreams so that we know what awaits us?"

The healer rubbed the tip of his nose.

\- "I don't think it does. I'm _sure_ of it. I reckon it's making us feel emotions or see memories of the people who preceded us. It's going to be a big mess when we go down inside - if the Gate actually opens - with everyone's irrational fears and the _real_ dangers we will face."

Albus swallowed hard.

\- "So you mean it's going to be like it was during the battle against the Anghenfil..." he muttered. "Like when my father was fighting Voldemort. He never knew whether he had visions of things actually happening or if he was the subject of illusions sent by the enemy."

\- "You're not your father", Terrence said curtly. "It's about time you'd stop comparing yourself to him."

There was a moment of awkward silence, during which Koff munched the metatarsals of the skeleton hanging from the ceiling, then the healer sighed. He gave a friendly pat to Albus' knee.

\- "So. What else was in that nightmare of yours?"

The young man with green eyes shuddered.

\- "There was a girl with an old-fashioned dress. She was crying."

\- "It wasn't a dog, then."

\- "No", Albus chuckled nervously. "She looked a bit like Wendy."

This time the silence that fell between them was stifling. Somewhere in the floors above, Günter's falsetto was warbling with Vera Lynn's beautiful deep organ. The entire collection of the records bequeathed by Remus Lupin was on, tonight.

Koff scratched at the door, yipped, then came back to them, its tongue lolling.

Albus cleared his throat.

\- "We... we found something this afternoon", he said, handing Terrence the jewelry box and pushing back the mini-monster who was hoisting on its short legs to get to it. "What do you make of it?"

\- "That we won't always be able to avoid this conversation", muttered his best friend, taking the small egg-shaped box. "It's heavy. Gold? Did you open it?"

\- "We never manage to."

\- "Hmm", said Terrence, frowning. "It looks like..."

He absently pushed away Koff's wet snout, weighed the jewelry box a couple of times then finally looking up.

There was a twinkle in his blue eyes that Albus knew only too well. It always preceded the words "Let's do an experiment" and invariably led to problems.

\- "Let's do an experiment", grinned Terrence.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

The copper cauliflower above the phonograph was sputtering another famous song from the Forties. The living room was warmly lit by dozens of candles. Goblets and Christmas balls were sparkling, cakes with chocolate topping and cinnamon frosting were adroitly circulating among the guests. The snow was dancing softly in the night, behind the large window.

Their bellies were full and their cheeks a bit rosy. Leaning on a shelf of the library, Christopher was sipping champagne, flirting with Vivienne who looked sumptuous in a vermilion sheath dress with an audacious neckline trimmed with ermine.

Sitting on the sofa, Günter was beating the rhythm on his knees, with a lunar smile on his gentle face. He was wearing old-fashioned robes with frills on the collar. His short gray hair was as untidy as always and his eyes were bright behind his round glasses. Pepper was next to him, perched on top of a pile of cushions, a paper crown on his hairy ears, and was stuffing himself with pudding. The elf had put on Scottish socks that reached to his thighs and was strapped in a beautiful starched plastron that had the annoying habit of curling like a bib.

Matilda had tried to be fancy too. She had pulled back her hair so it would not look like algae victims of an oil spill. Therefore she looked like a pineapple with her yellow pear-shaped dress and the green ribbon on top of her head. Her hands were nervously clasped on her butterbeer and she was casting glances around her with tight smiles that were to be interpreted as an expression of great bliss.

Terrence had left his white coat in the sickbay, for once. The sleeves of his tawny velvet jacket were too short for his slender arms and his bowtie made him look like some sort of scientist alien. His blond hair was tied up in a long ponytail that pranced happily on his back while he danced with Euphrosine who was giggling so much she was certainly going to lose her dentures.

The incredibly small feet of the witch did not touch the carpet. Out of breath, she was clinging to her partner who twirled with enthusiasm, not worrying the slightest about the fact people could sometimes glimpse outdated petticoats from under the cerulean silk. When the frenzied swing finally ended, Euphrosine's wrinkled face was glistening with sweat, but her twinkling blue eyes looked astonishingly young. She put a kiss on the cheek of the healer who had obligingly leaned down and let him walk her to the buffet, waving a hand to fan herself.

Scorpius was wearing a tuxedo and his pale hair slicked back made him look like a vaguely annoyed prince. He had finally agreed on coming down from the dome to join the party and was only consulting his pocket watch every quarter of an hour, waiting for the time when they should all go up for London's radio transmission. For now, he was busy removing raisins from his rum pie, armed with a spoon he had metamorphosed into tweezers.

Albus put another record on the phonograph and set up the diamond tip. There was some cracking and sputtering, then the new song began. It was a French sultry voice with a slow pace and caressing accents.

\- " _Le Tour de France… à diligence… vaut toutes les fééries…"_

Wendy took the arm the young man was holding out gallantly and let him take her to the open space in the living room. Slightly blushing, she laced his fingers with hers.

He had not put on a suit or dress robes – typical. _Terrence_ must have suggested the Pinocchio-like velvet straps – well, at least he had not put on a _bowtie_. Some day she would have to tell him that _Scorpius_ was the person to ask when you needed to look smart. But his white shirt brought out his black curls and the soft dark line of his jaw and - _oh, he was handsome and she loved him even if he made her mad._

He smiled. The beads woven in Wendy's brown hair were reflected in his emerald eyes.

They danced.

She had put on a simple black silk dress, short and thin, and she could feel the warmth of Albus' hand through the dotted plumetis – almost on her skin.

He was not saying anything, but he was looking at her with so much love she could have suffocated.

 _\- "Le suspense… par son absence… nous donnera le tournis…"_

She pirouetted slowly on the melancholic music, came back to him graciously.

 _It was times like these that were the hardest. Moments that she wanted to burn in her heart forever – that became so cruel when he moved away from her again..._

Happiness was something so easy, so volatile, so stupid. She was so happy - _right here, right now_ \- that her throat was hurting.

From time to time, Wendy's knee brushed against the prosthesis hidden under his dark trousers. He was lithe, never stepped on her toes, never got the dance moves wrong. Yet it was to her that waltz lessons had been inflicted.

Maybe the others were gone. Everything was so blurry, except for him and the way he cocked his head to the side like a cat, like if he was not sure she was enjoying the moment as much as he was.

She smiled. She did not know the candles were glittering like stars in her soft gray eyes. Then he made her swirl again and she laughed, a crystal sound, because she felt a little dizzy and he was so close...

 _\- "Ta nonchalance… ta diligence… nous mènent au paradis."_

The phonograph screeched and stopped. The silly song was over. Wendy stepped back, still holding Albus' hand.

Her cheeks were burning - she could have sworn she was back in Gryffindor's common room, when they had kissed for the first time, above a tray of sardines and buttered toasts.

Someone cleared his throat and Albus jumped, blushing.

They were not alone in the world anymore.

On the sofa, next to Pepper, Terrence looked like a very unhappy scarecrow.

Frowning, Scorpius looked up from his pocket watch.

\- "Midnight", he announced.

\- "Merry Christmas", said Günter with emotion.

Euphrosine gravely nodded over her teacup and Vivienne began distributing effusive hugs. Matilda inadvertently toppled her dessert on Christopher Cadwallader's stylish vest. The young man did not even huffed but started telling them a joke about a vampire, a ghoul and a cracker.

In the confusion, Albus, who was still holding Wendy's hand, slipped out with the girl. They went up the spiral staircases, leaving behind the warm room filled with hubbub and joyous exclamations, and climbed, panting, to the observatory.

It was cold under the crystal dome. The snow had almost completely covered it with a felt veil. In the middle of the room stood the transmitting equipment: a strange easel with a golden arrow. An cloudy glass globe served as receiver and was crackling with small blue sparks.

\- "The others will come soon", Wendy said.

Albus looked funny, at the same time nervous and resolved. He nodded and his voice squeaked on a syllable when he opened his mouth.

\- "They won't be there before twenty minutes. Scorpius isn't the only one with a watch", he said, pointing to the one his parents had given him for his seventeenth birthday.

Wendy smiled and looked at him, puzzled.

\- "So? What was the big mystery about?"

Somewhere deep in her stomach, a terrifying feeling was suddenly curling like a snake ready to strike.

 _What if he told her it was all over? That he had been thinking; that they would never go far like this; that the dance was a farewell; that he had_ decided _he could never live with her; that the dragon was..._

Rage and fear knotted inside her and her throat clogged up with such violence she gasped.

Albus gazed at her anxiously.

\- "Are you not feeling well?"

She shook her head.

 _No, she would not cry. She would not scream that he was not for him to make this choice; that she felt perfectly able of managing Toothless and Dewis and as many other personalities he would come up with, as long as he was not giving her his father's speech or another deep shit about protecting her from afar 'coz loving each other was 'dangerous'..._

Albus touched her cheek.

\- "Wendy? Don't put on your alligator face. I haven't said a word yet."

She wanted to giggle but nearly choked on a sob.

\- "Breathe", advised the big dummy.

She would have given anything to go back to the living room, but she bravely looked up and forced herself to swallow a big gulp of air.

The cold prickled her throat.

\- "Cool", Albus said in a hoarse voice. "Now I'm officially freaking out."

She raised an eyebrow.

\- "Huh?"

\- "Günter said women always guessed before we'd talk so if _that_ was your inner reaction when you got it..."

He had a shrug – a habit of his when he was trying to look relaxed but was inwardly panicking.

She smiled, although she felt like crying.

\- "I don't know what you're talking about, Al", she said. "But I'm listening."

He thrust his hands in his pockets. The bluish glow of the crystallized snow on the dome gave a strange halo to his tangled black curls. He bit his lips, took a deep breath, then raised his head and looked straight into her eyes.

\- "Wendy Philips, will you marry me?"

Her eyes widened and she froze.

\- "I know I'm a dimwit who has kept you waiting for, like, thousands of years. I know I can't promise I'll be a normal bloke who's not going to turn into a dragon the day you tell him you're expecting a baby..."

He paused and blushed so violently she could almost see it in the dark.

\- "I... I have nothing great to offer you... I s'pose your mum will freak out, but maybe we could convince her if you'd remind her my father is something like the prime minister – couldn't we?"

She did not utter a word, petrified. He swallowed hard and went on very quickly.

\- "I'm missing a leg... I get odd dreams and I attract creatures like a bird call from Hammelin... I'm not as smart as Terrence and I don't have Scorpius' class, but..."

His green eyes sparkled, fervent and sincere.

\- "But I _know_ I love you. I'll never hurt you on purpose. I'll try not to make you cry. I don't want to be separated from you - even if it takes fighting Dewis every day to keep in control. I can't _promise_ you everything will be fine, but I _swear_ I'll do everything to protect you."

He moved closer and took her hand hesitantly, as if he was afraid she would break free and ran away. She did not beat an eyelash. Her fingers were frozen and if he had not seen her lips trembling, he would have thought she had turned into a statue of ice.

\- "I don't know what's going to happen to us and I'm scared, too", he whispered. "But we will be together - for real. Forever..."

She looked down. He had taken his wand out of his pocket and was drawing something that he let fall in her palm. It was warm, light and soft as a feather.

It was a simple glass ring with a silver fish chiseled around it.

\- "Wendy Philips, will you marry me?" he repeated shyly. "We'll eat sardines in the moonlight as often as you'll like."

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: CALLING HOME_**


	12. Calling Home

**CALLING HOME**

* * *

For a few moments, there was no other sound under the crystal dome than Albus' breathing Albus and the muffled song coming up from the gramophone in the living room, the light crunch of the snow above their heads and the discreet tinkling of the stars on the dark vault.

Then, Wendy gasped again. She closed her hand on the glass ring and began talking very fast, in a worried, hurried, high-pitched voice.

\- "I know I'm always covered with sludge and I have a short temper and I'm just a Muggle girl and I have no right to claim anything, but it's not fair because I love you - I love you since the first time on the train, when you gave me the ferret and - it wasn't because of your grandmother's eyes or your father's fame or the dragon's heart, it was because of who you are. _Just you_. It was as if I had been searching for so long for a reason to live and suddenly I found you. When you looked at me, deep in my soul, looked at the real me - _all of me_ – I knew it was you. It was like I was given the right to be happy - and I don't care about the dragon being there or your complexes - I told you already, James and you are completely different and you don't need to try being your father's image even in acts - I love you _as you are_ \- you. Albus Severus Potter. You with your flaws and everything that makes me want to love you more every day: your sincerity, the fact you never doubt people can be good, your courage and the purr and even your missing leg, I..."

\- "Wendy. Wendy, _wait a minute_ ", he interrupted with a crackling touch of laughter in his voice. "Does that mean you agree? You _will_ marry me?"

She bit her lower lip, then looked up.

\- " _Yes_ , I will", she said hoarsely.

He paused for several seconds, then he lifted her up and spun her around and there was suddenly like thousands of stars exploding in fireworks in the sky and singing whales, and rainbows, and bursts of applause, and a flight of doves and ringing bells, maybe even a rocket that soared steeply to the moon - and suddenly a great solemn silence like in a church at dawn.

Albus put down Wendy carefully. She pushed back one of the short brown hair sweeping on her face and smiled shyly. He took her wrist and opened her hand. The moon glow touched the small glass ring and glinted briefly on the delicately crafted scales of the silver fish.

He slipped the ring on the girl's finger, then looked at her intently.

\- "I love you, Wendy Philips", he said fervently.

She nodded, half strangled by the crazy joy radiating in her, from her, everywhere, like an incredible gift.

Their hair was tingling. They had goose bumps, but it was not because of the coldness of the observatory.

\- "Are you going to cry?" Albus asked worriedly.

Wendy managed to swallow the lump in her throat and took her eyes of the ring soft like a kiss on her finger.

\- "No", she croaked. "I cried enough in the past. I'm not going to cry now."

\- "Oh, _good_ ", he said with a comically childish relief. "Because the others said women always cried when..."

\- "What _others_?" she repeated in an alarmed tone. "Merlin's beard, Albus, how many people knew you were going to propose tonight?"

\- "I think I didn't tell Matilda and Christopher", he confessed sheepishly.

\- "Ohmygosh. I need a cup of tea. Even _Pepper_ knew! That's why Vivienne was _so_ anxious to put make up on me", sighed the girl, absently touching the corner of her eye where night shadows were blended with discrete silver glitter, highlighting her silky gray eyes. " _Oh_. You told Scorpius too, then?"

The sudden concern in her voice made Albus frown.

\- "Uh, no. Terrence didn't want me to, for some reason…" he stopped, aghast. "Why? Does he loves you _too_?"

Wendy shook her head.

\- "Long live Terrence's foresight..." she whispered. "No, he's doesn't lo... what do you mean? _Who else_ is in love with me?"

Albus looked troubled and she understood he had said more than he wanted and that he would not do the same mistake. She did not insist, but stepped closer.

\- "I won't cry, but won't _you_ turn into a dragon? Aren't you supposed to be a ball of feelings, right now?" she teased.

He laughed. His green eyes were shimmering with happiness.

\- "Nope. For the first time in days, I don't feel in conflict with Dewis. In fact, I think he's happy for me and he'd definitely not want to spoil it..."

She put a hand on his forehead.

\- "It does look like your fever has dropped..."

She was so close to him their faces almost touched. He wrapped his arms around her and she tied hers around the young man's neck, snuggling against him.

\- "When we were twelve, I was taller than you", she whispered, beaming.

\- "Yes, and you were also always covered with band-aids", he chuckled, putting a kiss on the tip of her nose. "It suited you."

\- "And you were buried in your books all the time", replied the girl. "So t'was only at the Quidditch pitch that I could hope you'd see me..."

\- "Then there was the night of the sardines and _I_ was the one you saw", he chuckled.

\- "Yes", Wendy laughed. "Yes, I did see _you_. And then you took me to the moon and I told you I loved you... even like that, no matter what would happen..."

Her fingers were playing with Albus' dark curls. Their hearts were beating together, huddled like two birds in a nest - a simple sound, warm, comforting, full of promises.

He closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, as if he was trying to sink in the moment.

The crystal dome was bathed in a blue glow and the pale starlight was flickering on the glass globes and the golden instruments barely visible in the shadows.

\- "When shall we get married?" Wendy asked shyly.

He opened his eyes.

\- "When we go back to England next summer?"

She nodded thoughtfully.

\- "Like this, they won't be able to separate us when they make Antarctica's new team But Mother will want to throw a big party, make me wear _Haute Couture_ and she'll invite thousands of boring people..."

\- "There will be tons of journalists because of my father", Albus added with an apologetic grimace. "And your family might have a fright when mine starts levitating bottles of champagne..."

Wendy offered him a bright smile.

\- "I'd rather have just a small reception with our friends as well. But it'll be fine. We'll survive. We went through worse. We'll do with them and it'll _still_ be our special moment. You'll see... it'll be okay... it's going be better than okay, even: it's going be _amazing_."

She stood on tiptoe to kiss him lightly. Their breaths were mingling in the darkness caressed by the stars.

\- "Will we have a child?" Albus asked softly.

\- "We'll have _many_ children", Wendy replied in a voice that was trembling a little. "And we'll love them, we'll tell them so again and again and they won't ever feel lonely..."

He tightened his embrace. He was looking at her with so much love in his eyes her breath was almost taken away.

\- "We'll have a house with bow-windows like you like and a magical ceiling in an attic full of books", he whispered with a radiant smile. "Our children will catch fireflies at the _Burrow_ and put them in dirigible plums from our garden. They'll do mechanics with you and I'll read them the _Tales of_ _Beedle the Bard_ at night..."

\- "We'll tell them about flying whales and fire-tailed foxes", she went on, her eyes shining. "Barrie will take them for a ride on his shoulders and he'll tell them the story of the crocodile he fought for three days. Your grandma will make big chocolate cakes for their birthdays. And then they will receive their Hogwarts letter and we will take them to Platform 9 ¾ on September the 1st..."

She pursed her lips, overcome with emotion.

\- "We will be _happy_ ", she croaked.

\- "And we'll always be together", he said hoarsely. "Promise?"

She nodded.

\- "Promise", she muttered in a strangled voice.

Albus wiped the tears overflowing on Wendy's cheeks.

\- "See? You're crying", he said gently.

\- "It's your fault", she sniffed.

So, to make amends, he kissed her again and this time the kiss lasted so long they were both out of breath and more than embarrassed when the door opened.

\- "I take it wasn't a complete disaster", said Günter, clearing his throat, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes behind his round glasses. He waved his wand and the observatory was flooded with light. "Can I call the others? I must say Scorpius has been pawing at the top of the stairs for ten minutes already and he doesn't understand _why_ this lock is jammed when it was perfectly fine an hour ago."

\- "O-of course", Albus said, blushing hard. "Yes, they can come in."

Wendy was shaken by nervous giggles and hid behind him, trying to cool down her own face by sticking it against the icy crystal of the dome.

Scorpius shot them a sharp look when he rushed inside the room, then he bustled around the transmission devices while Günter was casting heat spells and summoning comfortable chintz armchairs and small tea tables. Pepper materialized in a pop, carrying a huge tray covered with steaming mince-pies and the observatory was suddenly filled with the delicious scent of crispy pastry and hot red fruits topped with whipped cream. Matilda and Christopher only gave a distracted glance at the young couple. Vivienne, however, beat her eyelashes at them so obviously it made them flushed again. Euphrosine sat after giving a gentle but strangely sad look at the two.

As for Terrence, he stared at Albus when he came in, studied the bright pink hue of Wendy's face, then headed to the darkest corner of the room and sat there, his lips pursed tight.

Scorpius fiddled with on the console he had taken out of a briefcase labelled _Top Secret_. Then he waved his wand at the golden antenna on the easel and held his breath with the others.

At first there was nothing but a sizzling. Then the big glass globe in the circle of armchairs started to fill up with white mist and they heard a joyful tinkling, the melody of _Jingle Bells_ and then the deep voice of a man saying "ho ho ho".

\- "Heck", Scorpius grumbled, frowning. "Went too far. It's bloody North Pole."

Someone giggled.

Then the sputtering in the radio gave way to a clear voice asking: "hello? Hello? Do I need to speak in this thing?" and Matilda burst into tears.

Then they went on a roller-coaster of emotions. It was like a miracle to hear their families' voices so close, to be able to tell news, to shout "Merry Christmas" and laugh together, from thousands and thousands of miles apart.

The B.A.T.S had allowed only a maximum of two people per team member to participate; therefore some choices had been made.

First was Matilda's older sister, who showered her with advices in an affectionate tone of authority and who assured her their mother was doing much better and could surely come to the jetty to welcome her daughter in July. The biologist managed some rumblings amidst this flood of words, nodding like a frantic duckling at every mention of a neighbor, a cousin, a former teacher who was conveying cheers: apparently, Matilda Shrew was worshiped in her old district of Liverpool.

The Swanson succeeded to the determined young woman. They asked about their son's journey to Antarctica (six months earlier), complained of not having yet received any letter, worried whether he slept and ate at convenient times: a collective groan rose until the healer confessed he could do better with that. Terrence's mother detected something in his unusually depressed voice and wanted to ask more questions, but their time was up and the young man sat down again in his corner of the observatory, followed by Albus' concerned gaze.

Scorpius' parents were very proper, conscious of being in the presence - on each side of the world – of their son's boss. Drago asked about the young man's work, gave him some news of some figures in the wizarding world and urged him to keep serving his country with honor, to what Scorpius replied gravely that he would not fail the Malefoy. Astoria slipped a few gentle words of encouragement and seemed to understand something deeper than the simple words "thank you, Mother" that concluded the conversation.

Then there was a moment of hesitation during which the technician in London complained about radio pirates - "Blast them!" - then they heard a guttural holler and Vivienne Drake leaned towards the globe, cooing "is that you, poppet?" and started feverishly restyling her hair and clothes like if she could be seen. The others stared at her with amazement and bets resumed as to the identity of the famous Captain Nero, while the astronomer was crooning: "darling, be careful and don't let the kids saber you until you find it!". Then the B.A.T.S took back control of the transmission.

Christopher Cadwallader's two older brothers followed on and they left a painful impression. Their teasing was anything but friendly and they told him bluntly that their father had made a serious fall while flying on a broom at his _Hufflepuff_ _Quidditch Players' Homecoming_ and was now hospitalized at St. Mungo's "for six months, good riddance. The old man was starting to lose the plot anyway."

After that, the government agent who was coordinating the family reunion cleared his throat, extremely embarrassed, and told Günter Von Wartbach that his son had refused to attend the transmission because "hum, hum, he did not see how he could communicate with, hum, hum, someone who was dead to him."

Then Albus' face lit up when he heard his aunt Hermione's voice, but it was Wendy who was called to the receiver globe. Barrie the butler was there too and they both provided tons of recommendations. Hermione inquired about the working conditions of the house elf and Pepper jumped on his seat, turning purple to the tip of his ears and looked about to blow up all the equipment. "It's her, it's that... that _witch_ ," he spluttered, as if he was choking with the gruff hairs coming out of his nostrils.

Günter, who was struggling to keep a straight face, finally ordered him to go calm down in the Galley and the director of the _Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ lamented on this abuse of power, while Barrie explained to Wendy the twins fared rather well in their Muggle boarding school and had finally managed to recover from their disappointment at not having received letters from Hogwarts.

Wendy cast a glance at Albus, but her time came to an end and she had to give way to Euphrosine who seemed extremely surprised that someone was calling her.

They heard a quavering voice, a woman probably even older than the magician and probably deaf, seen as the government agent had to shout to explain her how to speak in the golden horn.

\- "Don't think it'll work out, you old fool!" she yelled. "Nothing has changed in seventy years! Bird of evil omen, if you believe this time you'll have your way, you're _mistaken_!"

\- "Mrs Kettlery, _please_ , it's Christmas!" protested despairingly the man on the other side of the world. "You said you wanted to convey good wishes to an old friend!"

\- "She'll take them all to the Chop shop!" squawked the harpy.

\- "Nonsense", Euphrosine snapped. She was extremely pale and her gnarled hands were trembling on a fold of her blue dress. "You were but a child at the time. You could not understand what was at stake."

\- "If you think he's been waiting for a hundred years in a glass coffin, you..."

The rest of the sentence was stifled quickly and they heard the transmission room being evacuated in an emergency. There was a long troubled silence. Günter got up and came to Euphrosine. He helped her up and walked her to her chair. Matilda hurried to pour a cup of tea and handed it to the witch, splashing in her nervousness the black marble floor and the padded armrest covered with a lace doily.

\- "No one will doubt you", said the team leader in a soft but firm voice.

The others nodded gravely.

\- "You're very kind", Euphrosine sighed, tears clouding her eyes. "But it's too late. I shouldn't have..."

Again, her jaws welded together as if to prevent her from talking.

Terrence examined the old woman anxiously. He made her breathe smelling salts and put a drop of potion into her tea.

\- "That woman. It was _Rina Kettlery_ , wasn't it?" Albus asked with a strange slow voice. "The magizoologist who was part of the team that was here just before the Shufflers of Light disappeared..."

But before the healer could reply he wanted them to leave his patient alone, the transmitter crackled again.

\- "Hello? This technology is amazing", said the awed voice of a man. "The transistors of the _Order of the Phoenix_ did not carry that far, during the war. What do you think, Harry?"

\- "I guess it doesn't really matter now, Arthur", said the Minister of Magic lightly. "Hello, Al? Are you there, son?"

\- "I'm here, Dad", Albus answered, going to sit closer to the receiver in which little green sparks were crackling among the scrolls of white smoke. "You okay? You're not working too much?"

\- "I'm doing fine", laughed Harry Potter. "But it's _you_ I should be asking, my boy. How's it going over there? Have you proposed yet? What did Wendy say?"

\- "She said yes", Albus stammered, both ridiculous and splendid.

Vivienne applauded, Günter could not suppress a snort of laughter and even Euphrosine's cheeks tinged with a little pink as she smiled at Wendy who had become red as a tomato under the stares of Christopher and Matilda.

Scorpius had gasped and was now trying tried to hide his agitation by fiddling with the console. Terrence glanced at him sadly. He crossed the room to fetch a blanket and squeezed his friend's shoulder briefly.

\- "Congratulations!" exclaimed Arthur. "We didn't tell anyone you were going to propose, you know! Molly and Ginny are always lamenting there'll be no wedding in the next ten years because you're too shy, Lily too popular and James' a scoundrel without a heart! They'll be flabbergasted! Where's the lovely girl? Let me welcome her properly!"

Albus turned and reached out to Wendy who came to sit at his side and laced her fingers with him.

\- "I'm here, Grandpa Weasley, Mr. Potter", she said.

\- "Hello Wendy", said Harry warmly. "Best wishes of happiness and welcome to the clan. My wife and Lily are at a party, but they will be delighted with this news. They already love you."

\- "Molly will go barmy!" Arthur chuckled. "We left her at the Burrow, snoring by the fire: she never was one to stay up late. She'll have a plan by tomorrow! Watch for the lists!"

\- "Er", Albus interrupted with a vaguely worried glance toward Wendy. "Maybe Grandma could share her perfect planning with Mrs. Philips... I'm sure Wendy's mother will want to get involved..."

\- "Don't worry, Al", promised Harry with that deep laughter that sometimes reminded Wendy of the dragon's voice she had heard when she was fourteen.

\- "Oh, Mr. Potter", she said. "Are Barrie and Hermione still there? I wanted to tell them myself, but I didn't have the time..."

\- "They're in the room next door", 'said the Minister of Magic. "I'll tell them. Al, they're beckoning us that it'll soon be over. Take care of yourself, son. Be careful. Do not try to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Listen to what your elders say; trust Terrence's good sense."

\- "Everyone loves you very much back at home and we can't wait for you to come back", joyfully shouted Arthur. "Tell Wendy there's plenty of stuff to tinker in the shed!"

\- "She can hear you fine, Grandpa", Albus chuckled. "I love you too. Give Mum a hug for me. Tell her I haven't forgotten what she told me the day before I left!"

\- "I hope so!" said his father with humor tinged with a touch of severity.

The transmitter sizzled again and the smoke in the glass globe disappeared with a spark.

Günter got up and brushed his robes.

\- "It's over", he said a bit more solemnly than he had wanted. "I hope you…"

His gaze fell on Euphrosine and Christopher, and he swallowed with a sigh the words he had prepared to conclude that moment that should have been a gift for _all_ his team.

\- "I hope you have a good night", he finally said. "See you tomorrow morning. Of course, we can't afford taking a day off when we're so close to the opening of the Axis, but we'll take time to give each other Christmas socks before we go back to our respective works."

Scorpius mumbled he would stay up to store the equipment. Terrence resolutely took Euphrosine's arm to escort her to her room and made sure her heart beat was back to normal before leaving her for the night.

Albus and Wendy went down to the living room "to tidy up" and no one seemed to find it necessary to offer them help.

If Pepper had regained his composure, he was probably down in the boiler den or scouring the kitchen. Matilda, who was already half asleep, staggered to her room, followed unwittingly by Koff.

As for Christopher, he asked Vivienne if she wanted to go for a walk in the moonlight and she accepted.

\- "So. You have children, then?" he asked her in the airlock, as he helped her put on her fur coat.

\- "Oh, gods, no. My husband calls the sailors his kids, but they aren't any children onboard."

\- "What kind of a man is Captain Nero, if you don't mind me asking? I'd think there're some werewolves among his family ancestors… no offense meant."

Vivienne chuckled and gave him a flick with her cigarette holder.

\- "Not at all! What put such an idea into your head?"

\- "I don't know", Cadwallader muttered, rubbing his painful skull. "That holler of his, for example?"

\- "Don't be silly. It was only the expression of happiness of a man who knows a pretty girl when he sees one!" protested the young woman, throwing back her opulent red hair. "Come on, some fresh air will do us good. Do you smoke, Christopher?"

They went out and their voices were lost in the quiet immensity of the night.

Günter, who had watched them from the spiral staircase, smiled fondly.

He was very proud of the way his team took care of each other and knew Vivienne would cheer up the geologist.

At the bottom of the Tower, Calcifer was curled like a cat around an onyx log. Small red sparks were crackling on his back while he slept, purring under the gaze of adoration of the old elf sitting cross-legged on the black tiles.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

The next day, they again gathered in the living room flooded by the morning light and happily unwrapped the contents of the bursting stuffed socks.

Everyone had competed for originality and there always was someone going across the room to thank someone else - or to give a vigorous pat on someone's back. There were glossy papers everywhere and it smelled of hot chocolate, oranges and cinnamon.

Scorpius had deep circles under his eyes. He was trying to hide them behind a smile every time he heard his name. Albus and Wendy were sitting back to back on the green carpet. Vivienne was wearing a red negligee trimmed with ermine. Matilda was in her nightgown and had forgotten to take off her lace cap. Terrence was sprawled on the sofa - he had not particularly slept well either.

Silver swallows were flitting in the room - sprays of pranksters spells too. A big teapot was trying to break through in the twists of paper hanging from the chandelier, followed by a dozen chipped cups. Koff was rummaging under the tree of chocolates, looking for other treasures to gobble down.

Günter had just put on a hat-who-makes-you-invisible directly shipped from _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_ , when Euphrosine suddenly let out a strangled cry of surprise.

\- "What was that?" gasped the old man, clutching the armrests of his chair.

The hat fell behind him and Koff, who was sneaking out with his loot, disappeared underneath.

\- "It's... it's..."

The witch lifted in her shaking hands what she had found in her sock.

 _A big golden egg encrusted with rubies._

She was hyperventilating and Terrence was in an instant at her side. He took her pulse and helped her steady her breathing. Then, when she was feeling a bit better, in the circle of the others who had gathered around them worriedly, he crouched in front of her.

\- "I'm sorry", he whispered, taking her hands. "It's my fault. I didn't think it would give you such an shock. I was sure you'd already seen this jewel box, but..."

Euphrosine shook her head. She swallowed hard, accepted the glass of water Vivienne was handing her and drank, then straightened up.

\- "It's not a jewelry box", she muttered. "It's a _music_ box."

She took the golden egg in her gnarled hands and gently stroked it. Then she looked up and sighed.

\- "It was a gift from my fiancé, for Christmas, on my twenty-first year. A very, _very_ long time ago. His name was Jen Pendragon."

Her sad blue gaze fell on Terrence.

\- "You remind me of him, you know. He loved to discover new things, he never was tired of learning, understanding, and that's what..."

She closed her eyes on a memory or on a tear and stayed silent for a long time. They thought she had fallen asleep and Wendy leaned to touch her shoulder.

\- "Euphrosine?"

She shuddered and opened her eyes, looked around her. She had never seemed so old, so frail, so lost.

\- "What is it? Ah, it's you, love... what were you saying?"

\- "You were telling us about your fiancé", said Terrence staring intently at the old woman. "You said he was passionate about research. I guess he was interested in the Axis. What happened?"

\- "He's dead", Euphrosine said simply. "He…"

Before she could finish, the tower shook on its base in a cloud of snow and Pepper apparated in the lounge with a loud crack. There were a threatening gleam in his beady yellow eyes.

\- "You have _no right_ to speak of it", he snarled.

\- "I know. I won't", said Euphrosine in an infinitely sad voice.

She drew from her lace collar a long gold chain with a tiny key.

\- "It was a music box made by the Goblins", she explained, putting the key in the almost invisible lock, hidden in the petals of a rose. "It was said to bring happiness and prosperity to your marriage."

The domed lid clicked imperceptibly and opened. Slowly, the first melancholic notes filled the room. It was like the song of a river or the crackle of a fire.

 _Very soft, very sweet, very old._

There was a mirror inside the egg and a gold round base on which were waltzing two delicate porcelain figures.

 _A woman with brown hair wearing a blue dress and a young man dressed in a pink cloak with a dragon-shaped fibula._

Wendy and Albus shared a look and a shiver ran down their spines.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: THEN THE STARS FELL_**

* * *

 ** _Dear "Guest",_**

 ** _THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEW! It was delightful to find it early this morning, when I woke up. Good omens for the day! Thanks for taking the time to write what you thought of my fanfic. I'm glad you enjoy the story!_**

 ** _As for Albus and Wendy, I agree with you, they are awfully cute, but I don't think they're quite ready to be an item. They look to me like children playing house or teenagers thrilled by their first crush. Of course they're sincere, but even though they already went through tough times together, I don't think they understand yet what_** **true love _is. Will they be able to grow and strengthen their relationship? Well… you'll know if you keep reading. ;-)_**

 ** _There are many love stories in this fic. I kind of did a – very humble – study of feelings. Some are pure and unconditional, some mixed with bitterness, some selfish and possessive, some silent yet passionate, some fragile and growing through shared hardships, some simple and quiet, some desperate. There are many different types of love too: lovers, but also bonds between parents and children, strong friendship, devotion and one-sided loves._**

 ** _I like it that as we go deeper in the story – and down the Axis! – the characters find out more about themselves and make terrible choices. They might make us believe in some things and then we'll find out they were wrong, or they might ignore stuff that will prove to be really important later._**

 ** _Anyway, more questions will be raised as we learn about what happened in the past in Antarctica and as secrets are brought to light. I'm not sure we'll find all the answers… but I can promise you won't be bored!_**

 ** _Thanks again for coming onboard!_**

 ** _**Lia_**


	13. Then The Stars Fell

**THEN THE STARS FELL**

* * *

It was only five days before the opening of the Gates and suddenly time seemed both excruciatingly slow and rushing off dizzyingly, and it felt like they would never be able to accomplish all the tasks they had yet to complete.

Wendy was working hard on the vehicle. She could not remember when was the last time she had had a shower. She was munching on the sandwiches Pepper was bringing her, lying under the Pumkin's belly and was often forgetting her tea amid the tools scattered on the warm ground.

On the floor below, Calcifer was humming, shaping golden butterflies in the flames.

Matilda and Christopher were going every afternoon to the sites that were most likely to be the location of the Axis: _Sarcophagus Cove_ , _Detour Hill,_ _Moonrock Bay_ where pearly bubbles were gathering under the dark surface of the sea. They were bringing back samples of rocks and of seaweed and spending half the night studying them in their labs.

Terrence never allowed himself a break. Pale and gaunt like an artist in full fury of inspiration, he was plundering the library and plying Euphrosine with so many questions the old woman had canker sores: she was struggling against her set jaws to try giving him bits of information. When he was not with her, he was pacing in the plain, squinting under the white glare of the Antarctic sun and thinking so intensely that an indelible crease had dug in between his eyebrows.

The healer had gone back to _Ogre Island_ and to the Japanese station, had offered his services to help cure the strange epidemic that raged there. As he took care of his patients, he had heard of _Whale Carcass_ and the Muggles had told him the story that was related to it. He had come back to the station very excited. In 1957, when the first Japanese wintering season had ended, terrible weather conditions had forced the team to leave behind their precious four-legged companions. A year later, when the men had come back, only two of the fourteen dogs stranded in Antarctica had been found alive. They were the same dogs whom, the previous winter, had saved the researchers lost in the blizzard who had taken refuge in the cave formed by the gigantic whale skeleton.

Comparing mission reports from that year, Terrence had noticed it corresponded to the time when Rina Kettlery was stationed in Antarctica. He wanted to restore the connection with England and to require to speak to the old witch, but it was unfortunately not possible. He was left champing at the bit with Euphrosine who was gagged by what he guessed to be a curse cast by Calcifer.

Günter had started looking for the ghost of a sailor or a scientist to learn more about what had happened to the dogs during the long months they had waited faithfully for the return of their masters.

On December 27th, Albus' health suddenly worsened. Vivienne, who was bringing him readings of the stars to be compared with the last movement of the fire-tailed foxes, found him bending over his desk, his body racked by terrible coughs and his mouth full of blood. In the past days, he had been repeatedly asking Terrence for poultices to relieve him from the twinges of the flower-shaped scar on his chest and his fever had been rising slowly but inexorably. Now, when he was not choking when trying to breathe, he was tossing in bed, muttering senseless words, bathed in a cold sweat, half unconscious most of the time.

Scorpius blamed himself. He had argued with Albus on Christmas Day, on an absurd trifle. Harry Potter's son had thought his friend was hurt because he had not been told beforehand about the marriage proposal, but Wendy had ran after Scorpius when he had left the tower, slamming the airlock door so strong one might have thought it was Calcifer shaking the tower in a huff. Shivering without her coat, the girl had waded through the snow behind the government agent until she had caught up with him.

\- "I _know_ you're not upset because Albus didn't tell you", she had panted. "I'm sorry, Scorpius, I'm really sorry... but please... don't make _him_ pay..."

He had not answered, had broken free from the suppliant hand touching his arm and had gone off without a look back.

From the sickbay's window, Terrence had witnessed the scene, his lips tightened into a hard line.

Wendy had gone back to the engine room, wiping her face streaming with tears and had promised herself she would keep trying to repair their friendship that was falling in tatters.

And then Albus had collapsed.

Scorpius, sitting by the bed of the one who had taught him the meaning of _hope_ , was meditating bitterly on the anger, envy and despair that seethed in him like if they were agitated by old dark forces.

It was a disaster and it had taken less than a week for them to forget all they had lived together, just because of a stupid love story.

 _Only seven days._

It was then that Terrence had understood.

Harry Potter had called them after their return from Brazil and he had told them what had happened when Albus was seven years old – when Toothless had shown up for the first time. He had also drawn a parallel with the awakening of the dragon during their fourth year at Hogwarts.

Now things were going exactly the same way as the two previous times.

There definitely was a link between Dewis and the Axis.

 _"When I set foot here the first time, it was as if I had just come home."_

 _"He's calling, he's crying, he wants to leave."_

It was blindingly obvious.

 _When the Gates would open, the dragon would go back to where he came from and..._

In the darkness of his room, Terrence was closing his eyes and clenching his fists, curled up under his blankets to hide from the horrible thoughts that were surrounding him with their blazing eyes and their growing shadows.

 _Albus would die._

 _Wendy would not be his anymore._

 _And Scorpius' heart would be broken._

But Terrence could not bring himself to find the courage to tell the others.

 _Renounce._

 _A terrible word._

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

On December 28th, the stars fell.

They went down one by one, slipping on the dark vault like golden tears. The horizon line was glowing above the sea and violet and green draperies were swelling over the sea like huge sails.

A very old and very beautiful song was carried by the wind through the crevices and cliffs of _Crystal Tusks Crest_. Snow gushed in sparkling geysers where the comets crashed in the floe that was creaking terrifyingly. The huge waves they were creating made the icebergs dance in a monstrous and magnificent ballet, like white ships splashed with purple, about to sink.

The rain of fire lasted for hours. A deadly silence had fallen over _Inlandsis Station_. Everyone was frozen, looking up at the ceiling, as if expecting at any time the crystal dome to shatter and the tower to collapse in a dreadful rustling of sheet metal.

In the sickbay, Albus, his lips discolored, his black hair sticky with sweat, was no longer stirring in the grip of fever. His pulse was so faint it was as if he was almost dead.

When all flickers in the inky sky were gone and when Antarctica stopped shaking like a living creature cowered in terror, Vivienne and Christopher went out to take readings.

The cold was so intense it pierced through their parkas, the spells cast on their clothes, even their skins. When they came back, for the first time since they had come to Antarctica their faces were mottled in purplish red and their fingers swollen, almost a blacken blue. The dischilblaining machine went into _Panic Mode_ , but Terrence assured them the Muggles had such troubles every day and that they did not complain, even though their medicine was much more rudimentary than the wizards'.

On December 29th, Vivienne's astrolabe came back to life as if all the stars were in their usual spots. But the night was still dark, thick and spongy.

The asterolines had developed thin golden veins and had woven crystalline webs in their aquariums. The snow flower was shimmering in Matilda's lab, as alive as the flame of a candle. One could almost hear it whisper quietly...

Günter had not found ghosts who could have told them about the Japanese dogs, but with the boreal Omnioculars, he and Pepper had watched fleeting silhouettes galloping across the plain alongside the fire-tailed foxes: it looked like big wolves made of ice water.

Wendy was now done with the repairs. The golden pumpkin gleamed like new, even if one could still find on its flanks dark scratches that could be due to falling rocks as well as hostile spells. The six jointed legs were working perfectly, the crystal windshield was sparkling clean and there even was a small vanilla fir hanging above the myazakian dashboard.

Scorpius wrote his last report of the year and sent it by _Gorfou Express_. He had concluded with a personal note to the Potters, informing them that their son was very ill and that it was very likely January's dirigible would not make it in time to take him to a better equipped hospital. In his painting, Terrence's tutor had shaken his head sadly when Günter had asked him if there was any hope: despite what his brilliant student said, it was the end.

On December 30th, in the morning, Albus opened his eyes and smiled at Wendy who was fast asleep, drooling a little, her head leaning on her arms crossed on his bed. He stroked her hair. She cracked open an eye, then let out a shrill cry of joy that made all the others tumble down in the spiral staircases.

Albus was very weak, but he managed to sit up and to take a couple sips of the shellfish soup Pepper had simmered especially for him. Terrence and his tutor agreed that they should not declare victory too soon, but no one would listen to them. Günter gave a speech with emotion, Matilda burst into tears, Vivienne kissed Albus on both cheeks. Euphrosine examined the young man for a long time, probing the magic she felt radiating from him, but she could not explain the phenomenon.

There were flakes of gold in his emerald eyes and something that looked like a distant memory on his forehead.

On December 30th, late afternoon, after insisting so much they finally gave in, Albus went down to the boiler den, half carried by Terrence and Scorpius. Christopher, who had come down to dispense the usual bag of lava rocks to the restless Shadows Nibblers, had then the scare of his life.

Under his stunned gaze, Albus Severus Potter _turned into a dragon_ in a swarm of dark glitters.

While the geologist was vainly trying to push up his dropped jaw, Calcifer sat regally in the fireplace, a long tongue of fire sweeping behind him like the tail of a cat.

Toothless looked at him with half-closed eyes and lifted a paw as if to try catching this so interesting moving thing.

Then Terrence knew Dewis had taken control over the playful big black cat, because the fur dragon suddenly bent his neck, swelled his wings with pride and faced the onyx fireplace like a majestic ebony statue.

\- "If you know how I feel", said Calcifer in his imperious high-pitched voice, "take us to the Gates."

The room buzzed again with light and Albus collapsed on the dark tiles, unconscious.

That night there was a heated debate in the lounge, with the whole team. Christopher Cadwallader was pushing stubbornly to make the government aware "of the presence of a hybrid that could screw up the whole operation." Vivienne and Matilda were huddled against each other on the sofa and were glancing worriedly but fascinatedly at Albus. Wendy was perched on the arm of her fiancé's chair and was watching over him fiercely.

Terrence was the one who explained it all, but Scorpius did not say a word. His face was dark, his arms crossed, and he was leaning against the window on the other side of which was blowing a thick blizzard.

Günter listened gravely – so did Euphrosine.

Finally it was Pepper who concluded.

\- "Humans always ramble and get nowhere in the end", he said a little impatiently, furrowing his thick bushy eyebrows. "Master Calcifer said the dragon-in-the-boy would lead. Well, that's enough."

It was far from being _enough_ , but everyone went to bed anyway.

Nobody slept that night, though.

On December the 31st, at dawn, gentle sunrays caressed the white velvety plain. The bluish peaks of _Crystal Tusks Crest_ were sparkling and a luminous haze was rising from the ice. In _Moonrock Bay_ , a cloud of Trillers with glass wings was swirling gracefully.

Near _Detour Hill_ , a family of fire-tailed foxes came out of a snow hole shaking its fur. The cubs yapped at the two snowmen still snuggled against each other, then gamboled toward their parents, squealing. A minute later, they were trotting to the North, ears perked up, leaving behind small round prints.

In his elegant room, Vivienne Drake zipped up the soft red overall that although molding her curves would effectively protect her from cold and scratches. On her bed was waiting a small alligator skin suitcase. She buckled the silver astrolabe at her belt, checked her makeup, blew a kiss to the framed picture on her night table, then left the room in almost dancing steps, her opulent red mane swaying with her hips.

Terrence Swanson was stacking phials, ointments and gauze in his bag enlarged by an extension spell that was hardly big enough. The sickbay was littered with books and scrawled notes scattered on the ground or pinned on the walls - even on the skeleton. The healer put on an extra sweater, freed his long blond ponytail from the collar, then realized he had forgotten to remove his white coat and had to undress again. He stuffed some more hastily scribbled papers in his bag then went out forgetting to turn off the light.

Christopher Cadwallader looked in the mirror and straightened the straps of his army backpack. He blew off a brown wavy lock on his forehead, tried to grin broadly and failed miserably. He hopped a bit to settle in his Pataugas, then bent to pick up his woolen hat on the chair. The hat hurried away and he had to tackle it after running in circles for a while. Koff reappeared as soon as he removed the hat-that-turns-you-invisible they had forgotten – _as well as the mini-monster_ \- for several days. The geologist hesitated, then patted the head of the shaggy creature with gruff affection, got up, put on the woolen hat and headed for the stairs.

Günter Von Wartbach looked one last time at his office: Antarctic maps, black and white pictures of all the scientists who had preceded them and who were waving at him. He put his old suitcase down at his feet, wiped his round glasses with a checked handkerchief, then put them back on his nose. He smiled to his colleagues, to his books and to the envelope left on the leather desk blotter, then he picked up his suitcase and shut the door behind him.

Matilda Shrew was waiting in the airlock, looking even more lanky and flabby than usual in her bottle-green overall, her long black hair braided in a crown and some toothpaste smeared on a pimple on her forehead. Her fingers were clutched so hard on the straps of her backpack that her knuckles were white. She weakly smiled at Scorpius who was coming down, but he did not really notice her. He was dressed all in black. His face was very pale and he was lifting high the thin chin he had inherited from his father, as if it was his first day of school or his first assignment to the Ministry of Magic. He had slipped his wand into a narrow case strapped to his thigh and pinned the Malfoys' armorial brooch on the lapel of his jacket.

The sun played in his almost white hair when he came out on the porch and blinked, dazzled by the reflections from the golden pumpkin Wendy Philips was slowly maneuvering out of the Tower through a large red metal hatch.

The young mechanic had put on a pair of big ski goggles over her gray eyes easily injured by the glaring light of winter. She was holding her wand with a firm hand and did not seem to have difficulties handling the heavy vehicle floating in the air.

Scopius realized she had help when he finally managed see again it, after putting on his own sunglasses. Euphrosine Howler was also standing with her wand up. She had put down her tapestry bag. She was wearing a funny straw hat trimmed with blue satin camellias.

A little further behind them, the black fur dragon was rolling with delight in the snow and something that looked like a Phoenix in combustion was leaping around him, meowing in utter joy.

The Pumpkin passed over Scorpius's head, swallowing him in its shadow for a moment, then landed heavily at the foot of the Tower.

Wendy lowered her wand and snapped her neck with relief. She put two fingers in her mouth, whistled her backpack which came whizzing, then put on the green crochet beret knitted by Molly Weasley as the gate of the tower was closing with a loud _bang_. Then she turned to Günter who had been waiting patiently.

\- "All right, we're ready", she said, grinning bravely.

\- "Then it's time we leave", said the old man gravely, turning to the dragon who was wagging his spade-shaped tail, his tongue dangling happily, his green eyes sparkling with excitement.

\- " _Geronimo_!" squealed Calcifer, bursting forth towards the great blue sky like a golden crimson comet.

He made a loop and went into a dive toward Euphrosine who caught him in her open arms.

\- "Let's go home", she whispered, her blue orbs in the red ember eyes of the daemon curled up against her heart.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: TO THE GATES OF THE UNDERWORLD_**


	14. To The Gates of The Underworld

**TO THE GATES OF THE UNDERWORLD**

* * *

The plain was vast and the skies so high they seemed to have no end. The velvety snow stretched as far as the eye could see and slender fringes were tinkling merrily under the ice bridges. A flock of Trillers flew above their heads in a light lapping of wings and vanished in a spray of light drops.

The cold was so pure it felt like you were breathing in the origins of the world.

They were going in a slow procession, Calcifer and the black dragon at the head, the golden Pumpkin at the tail.

At first they had been silent, as if the Axis would open at any time, like a huge fog door before them. Then someone had reminded them with a strangled giggle that the prophecy had mentioned _midnight_ and the tension had loosened up a bit.

Vivienne was leading the way, consulting the astrolabe from time to time, and swaying elegantly on her high-heels boots, her red hair dancing on her hips. Christopher was trying to keep up with her, but it was not as easy as it seemed.

Behind them, Günter was humming softly, gazing wonderingly at the landscape, his hands in his sleeves as if they were gone only for a simple stroll. Pepper was walking next to him. The elf was wearing apple green wellies, a bright yellow jacket and red earmuffs on his flapping bat ears. He was muttering something unintelligible about the freezing cold or the restriction on the number of pots he had been allowed to pack.

Wendy had slipped her lit wand in the back pocket of her overalls and the vehicle was following her like a big puppy. She was chatting with Matilda who was stumbling in the snow.

Euphrosine was walking by the Pumpkin, sometimes touching as if to pat it or to lean on it and catch her breath.

Scorpius had been the first in the line, then he had slowed down to ask Günter a question and now he was lagging behind, deep in dark thoughts.

Terrence took from his bag the oldest manuscript of the Antarctic library: it was a thick notebook of observations made on a book that was missing: the _Journey to the Center of the Earth – To The Heart of Extraordinary Secrets and Back Again – The Diary of an Ordinary Wizard, by the prominent alchemist Arne Saknussem_. Half of the notes were written in ancient runes and the other was written in English so badly scrawled you almost needed to translate it too.

Terrence somehow managed to open the notebook while still walking and munched on the tip of his pencil, rereading the post-it stuck on the top of a page. Several questions were scribbled there and an arrow was pointing at a drawing of a lamppost.

\- "Can you help me with that?" he asked, moving closer to Scorpius.

\- "Ask Albus."

\- "He's... otherwise occupied", the healer muttered, casting a brief glance towards the fur dragon who was frolicking in the snow at the head of the line.

\- "Ask Günter then. He's the linguist."

\- "Please, Scorp'..."

The young government agent let out an annoyed grunt. He pulled off a mitten with his teeth, taking the book in his other hand.

\- "What do you want to know?"

\- "Here. They _are_ saying this lamppost marks the way _out_ of the Axis, aren't they?"

Scorpius frowned.

\- "Um... yeah, more or less. The "way out of the _dream_ ", to be more precise. Look, the translator hesitated too. Such convoluted way of speaking… I guess you could say it's correct."

\- "Why a lamppost? And why did we not find it anywhere? We could've sneaked into the Axis through the stage door."

\- "How should I know? You're the brains."

Terrence snorted and grabbed the shoulder of his friend before he could walk away.

\- "Wait, can you also check that one: _or on the livid waters glides Agatha's boat_?"

This time, though it was with a disgusted look, Scorpius accepted the chewed pencil and a piece of paper. He stopped and focused, circling some runes, tapping his forehead with the gum side of the pencil and drawing question marks above the sentence faded by time and study.

\- "It's not quite accurate. One should read _or on the white waters goes away the boat of the secret kingdom_ " instead. It doesn't make a huge difference in meaning, but – well."

\- "Um", said Terrence, lost in his thoughts.

\- "Why do you go over this again, anyway? Don't you think that since 1877, it's been translated in all conceivable ways?"

The healer pulled a face.

\- "What I think is that _because_ they kept rereading the notes and filling up books with observations from it, those before us eventually forgot to ask themselves the right questions."

\- "Like what, for example?" Scorpius asked, amused, putting back his mitten and starting to walk again.

\- "Such as: _Calcifer_. If he comes from the Axis, why not just letting him free and following him? He certainly knows the way home."

Euphrosine cleared her throat behind them.

\- "Oh, some did try", she said, her voice quavering with irony. "The Tower almost collapsed."

Terrence shot her a piercing glance.

\- "But _today_ , nothing happened and you did not look like you were thinking it would. When did Calcifer become a part of the Tower? He only shows up in the records after 1927..."

Euphrosine blushed and did not answer. She passed by them briskly and went ahead.

\- "What did you mean?" Scorpius asked.

The healer ignored him and turned a page of the notebook.

\- "Ah, can you also..."

\- "No", resolutely cut in the government agent, walking off. "Later, at the break."

Terrence chuckled and caught up with him in a few strides.

\- "I should have taken _Ancient Runes_..." he sighed.

\- "You already had too many elective courses, Swanson", Scorpius grumbled.

\- "With a _Time-Turner_ , I could have", said his friend dreamily. "Professor Longbottom told me they lent one to a particularly brilliant student, once."

\- "Let me guess: if it was in his generation, it has to be Albus' aunt. She's the brightest witch I've never seen..."

A burst of interest flashed in the eyes of the healer.

\- "Is it true what they say? That Hermione Granger-Weasley has many other jobs within the ministry and that her being the head of the _Department for the_ _Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ is just a cover?"

\- "You shouldn't read the _Quibbler_ ", Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "This rag may have had its heyday a moment in History, but truth is it really _is_ lunatic."

\- "Come on, you must know... you work for the Secret Service..."

The young government agent shook his head sternly.

\- "Well, I'll ask the son of the minister, then, he must know", finally said Terrence, in a tone that was not as light as he would have wanted.

Scorpius stared at him.

\- "You're starting to sound like Cadwallader, you know", he finally said in a low voice.

Terrence only grunted.

Like a desert of winding white dunes, a _sastrugi_ field was now in front of them. There was a glowing halo around the sun, formed by tiny crystals hanging in the air. Some clouds were stretched in a light gray band above _Crystal Tusks Crest._

At noon, they had a break in the middle of nowhere and lunched heartily.

\- "If we keep going this way, we'll end up at the French Station", said Vivienne when all their bellies were full and they were all vaguely sleepy. She put back the astrolabe at her belt. "The French are the closest to the South Pole", she added so that they could better picture where they were.

\- "Merlin protects us all", grumbled Pepper.

\- "Are t-they b-b-bad?" Matilda worried.

\- "No, not at all", laughed Günter. "But their cycle is much more difficult to live with than ours."

\- "Aren't they set in days of twelve hours of light?" asked Wendy. "They can't have left it like the Muggles, it's positively unbearable. I'd feel buried half of the year."

\- "Well, it _is_ reality, though", objected Christopher. "Antarctic is in daylight six months a year and under a night lid the rest of the time. If we wanted to conduct objective studies, we shouldn't have changed the cycle by magic."

\- "I don't see how _that_ affects his dear stones", Scorpius whispered, leaning toward Terrence who snickered.

\- "Apparently, the Norwegians went with a cycle of twenty-six hours", Euphrosine said thoughtfully. "I wonder if it was to work more or to get more sleep..."

Calcifer was playing at guzzling the snow the dragon was digging out in a splash of white powder. The flakes were melting before reaching the throat of the small fire daemon who was clucking happily.

\- "In any case, the French have the worst cycle of Antarctica", said Günter. "It seems the one who set it was a wizard who had worked as an pilot among the Muggles - _you know, people who drive their flying machines_ \- and who loved sunsets. As a result, their days are about three hours long and they can see sunsets just by going to the other side of the station."

\- "Ridiculous!" Scorpius said. "They can't be very effective like that!"

\- "Romantic", Vivienne cooed. "But it can't be very good for your complexion."

\- "Toothless! Let Albus out or come have a bite!" called out Wendy, who had gotten up.

But the dragon did not listen. Shaking his shaggy black fur like a puppy, he was squirming, waving his tail, and suddenly jumped on Calcifer who fled away, uttering a shrill cry of joy.

\- "Is Potter is _really_ conscious inside?" Christopher asked, looking extremely skeptical. "Because I never thought he could be this... childish."

Matilda also looked confused.

\- "It's hard to explain", groaned Terrence. "Try to imagine that you... nah, never mind."

\- "Let us trust Dewis", said Wendy, sitting down again. "What _I_ think is: Toothless is the body, Albus the heart and Dewis the brains. It's going to be fine."

Scorpius cringed.

\- "If only it were that simple... I liked it better when we were trying to communicate with him and teaching him how to control the switching. It feels like we're back to the beginning..."

Günter took off his glasses, wiped them on his handkerchief and put them back on his nose. Under his thick orange wool cap, a few gray hairs were fluttering in the cold wind.

\- "Isn't life made of moments like this one?" he whispered. "When it seems we're going in circles, doesn't it rather mean that we are getting to the next step?"

Pepper cleared his throat.

\- "Time to go", he said with a frown of his big bushy eyebrows.

\- "That's a nice way to say _stop raving_ ", Christopher quipped in a whisper to Vivienne who giggled, taking the hand he was holding out to help her up.

The others were already packing, except for Matilda who was thoughtfully watching the dragon rolling in the snow. She clearly saw the moment when both Calcifer and his playmate stopped romping and straightened up, attentive. They sniffed the white mist billowing in the wind, shared a look, and then took the lead of the procession again.

The afternoon stretched the line on the plain. Fatigue was beginning to weight on them, turning some of them mute, but apprehension was loosening the tongue of others.

Terrence was walking with Günter who was telling him how he had met Pepper.

\- "On the evening of the snowstorm, at the _Hog's Head_ , he was in a tizzy. The elves had understood the Dark Lord was back for true, you see, and not all of them were convinced a pimply teenager was our best chance against such evil..."

He cast a quick glance towards the dragon who was leading them without slowing down, his neck stretched forward.

\- "I _know_ Harry Potter saved the world in the end, but at the time it wasn't so obvious he would. It seemed unfair and foolish for the fate of the nation to rest on his shoulders. Pepper had a grudge against his girlfriend who was knitting clothes and littered the castle with them, and he thought the third one of the gang – Albus' uncle, if memory serves me well – wasn't much of a hero either."

He had a sad little smile.

\- "Appearances, Terrence, are hard to kill... especially when the government itself stirs up trouble in people's minds."

They remained silent a few moments. The snow was crunching under their feet like wafer biscuits and, behind them, the golden pumpkin was rolling forward, leaving behind a trace like one of a potbellied centipede. The others were a hundred meters ahead of them, except for Matilda they had passed when she was tying her laces: it was so cold her wand was quivering.

\- "Why did you come to Antarctica?" finally asked the healer.

Günter drew a deep breath.

\- "I lost my wife and daughter during Wizards World War I", he said hoarsely. "They were killed by _inferi_ while I was in conference in London. That evening at the _Hog's Head_ , I was drinking to their memory... I was bitter, lonely – useless. Had been like that for more than fifteen years. My life had no meaning. I was studying lost civilizations instead of alive people and my son kept telling me I had a bone where my heart should have been. So when a tipsy Pepper started telling me we were on the brink of another world war, I..."

He gave a little shrug, like if he was apologizing.

\- "I wanted to _do_ something. I knew that if there was power somewhere the Dark Lord would fatally become interested in it. I had heard about the researches on the Axis in Antarctica, I knew they needed a linguist. I wanted to be part of the fight, I didn't want a kid with glasses to be more courageous than me..."

His lips pursed and for a moment, his eyes clouded.

\- "Truth is I ran away", he confessed. "The gates had been shut for forty years already and it was not until 2007 that they finally reopened - and we did not find their location in time ... my life has been a repeated failure", he added in a low voice.

\- "Why are you telling me _now_?" asked Terrence, his blue eyes not letting go of his team leader's gaze.

\- "Because if anything happens to me during this expedition, I'd rather you'd have heard my story from my own lips", said Günter. "Grief darkens people's words. And my son has suffered enough to remember only bad things about me."

But the healer was not listening anymore. He was quickly calculating in his head and frowned suddenly.

\- "When Rina Kettlery and her team were stationed here... in 1957... when the Shufflers of Light disappeared and the Japanese left their dogs behind... it was the last time anyone was able to find the Gates and to go down in the Axis. The fire-tailed foxes came in 1927. _What_ on Earth makes the Gates open, then? Thirty years closed, once fifty, another time twenty... it doesn't make sense."

\- "The greater the offense, the longer forgiveness has to be waited upon", said sententiously Calcifer, popping next to them in a rustle of sparks. "The foxes wouldn't have been able to come across the Axis if everything had gone as usual. Arne Saknussemm, the old fool, had no idea what he was doing, when he put on paper what he had discovered - what the Shufflers had _granted_ him to see, out of goodness."

\- "I am not too convinced of the _goodness_ of the Shufflers, if you ask me", grunted Terrence, absently rubbing his neck.

\- "Before some showed zeal, the Gates opened every ten years", continued Calcifer, casting a strange look towards Euphrosine who was walking a few meters ahead. He curled on himself, crackling like a fire of pine needles. "Ah-ah-ah, those were some good times! The smell of flowers was..."

\- " _Flowers_!" Terrence sniggered. " _Humph_. You're quite the poet, log head. Apart from pretty frozen crystals, there's nothing that grows with petals around here, Calcifer. This is _Antarctica_."

\- "Well, there are asterolines", slipped in the shy voice of Matilda.

Terrence gave her a shocked look, as if she had betrayed him, then he straightened the strap of his bag on his shoulder and patted the lump of the book in his bag.

\- "Anyway", he went on, "what I'd like to know is _when_ Euphrosine came to _Inlandsis Station_. From what Rina Kettlery was yelling on Christmas Day, she was already there in 1957... t'was _seventy_ years ago! How old is she, exactly?"

\- "That's not something you can ask a lady", Günter said with an embarrassed tone.

\- "In the library, in one of the books of the _Magical Bubbles & Other Paranormal Boils _section, there's a drawing on a page that crumbles when you touch it", continued the healer, knitting his eyebrows again. "It's a heart with the letters J and E inside, wrote in ancient letters."

\- "Pendragon was an incorrigible schoolboy", chuckled Calcifer.

\- "Do you know _how old_ that drawing is, littl' smoky fellow? I did a test to find out. A _hundred_ years old! Euphrosine and her fiancé can't..."

He paused.

\- "During the transmission _,_ Euphrosine said she was _older_ than Rina Kettlery. That would mean she's at least…"

His blue eyes widened behind his glasses.

\- "Is that _true_?" he cried, turning to Günter who was avoiding his gaze.

Terrence took a few steps, still in shock, and then stopped again, so abruptly that Matilda thumped against his long lean back and stifled a little yelp.

\- "So that means Euphrosine was there in 2007, when you didn't find the Gates", he said slowly. " _Why_ did she not guide you to the Axis? If she had gone down there already twice, she..."

Günter shook his head sadly.

\- "It's not that simple. Neither Calcifer nor Euphrosine know where the Gates will open. They can recognize the signs when the time approaches, but they can't remember the way home."

\- "But Euphrosine d-does not c-come from t-the Axis", Matilda objected.

The old man did not answer, his eyes staring hard at Calcifer.

\- "So you knew..." Terrence mumbled. "That she had always been there, that she couldn't tell us about it, that she was the key..."

\- "Euphrosine Howler isn't the key to anything", cut in Calcifer sharply. "But it was bad of you to keep silent, old man. The curse was meant to be lifted if someone found about it. The Tower is full of drafts and half-shut doors, and yet you never dared tell anyone of what you heard – of what you deducted from your observations."

\- "Secrets of others are not to be shared", Günter replied curtly. "If you wanted to go home earlier, Mr. Insolent, you should have done a better deed than condemning a lady to silence."

\- "She wasn't a _lady_!" squealed the fire daemon, glowing red. "She was just a hysterical little girl and I was scared, it hurt - and it was _their_ fault... They were ripping off m…"

He stopped abruptly and sputtered sparks, as if it was his turn to be shut up by an ancient spell. The snow was smoking where his dancing shadow brushed it.

Terrence and Günter only looked at him without pity, but Matilda stepped forward and held out a timid hand to the flames that were hissing painfully.

\- "It's o-over..." she whispered tearfully. "There, there... everything will be alright..."

Calcifer curled up under the caress, closing his eyes half and the sparks on his head went from bright scarlet to orange and then to a soft greenish yellow.

The others were waiting, watching them from a distance with curiosity.

 _"Everything will be alright."_

Terrence bit his lip to stifle a groan of bitter irony.

 _How many times had Albus uttered the very same words since he knew him? People with a big heart could be so naïve! Nothing_ always _went alright..._

In fact, at this very moment, they were all walking towards something that was going to turn horribly wrong and Terrence, who knew it, was doing absolutely nothing to stop them.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

The purple sky was stretched over the plain and the slopes of _Crystal Tusks Crest_ were glittering in the fading light. A red steam was rising on the horizon and the sinking golden sun was blurred like a mirage.

A bright white star lit up, all alone above the icy vastness.

\- "Where are we?" Günter asked wearily. "And what time is it?"

\- "We're on the border between the French and the American territories", said Christopher, consulting the floating map he had unfolded with his wand.

\- "It's four minutes after eleven, UK time", Scorpius announced after consulting his pocket watch. He hurried to put back on his mittens and thrust his hands under his armpits to try to warm them up.

Terrence, next to him, was blowing on his and was rubbing them against each other. His face was red and his nose was running.

Pepper was sitting in the snow, unpacking a small stove, sandwiches and a big teapot.

\- "A s-star?" stuttered Matilda, leaning back her head to look at the purple sky. "I thought t-they had f-fallen. All of them."

She was the only one who did not look frozen to the bone and it was probably because Calcifer was snuggled in the hood of her green overall, where he was softly snoring.

\- "It's not a star", Vivienne said flatly, consulting again the astrolabe.

Euphrosine sat on her tapestry bag and devoured her corned beef sandwich with appetite. Her wrinkled face was strained with fatigue but her blue eyes were shining of anticipation.

Slowly, the shadows were growing. The ice was moaning in the darkness and whispers came with the howl of the wind in the rifts. From time to time, a distant yelp broke out, startling the team members. Their breaths, in the glow of the wands and the stove, added to this hazy and disturbing atmosphere.

Shivering, Wendy cast a glance around, curling her fingers around the hot cup of tea that the elf had just handed her. She buried her chin in the thick pink scarf Hermione had given her and looked around for the dragon.

He was sniffing the breeze, his ears perked up. The falling snow was swirling in the wind around him, and pearls sprinkled his ebony fur. He trotted around, like if he was drawing a circle, and then stopped again, listening to the night.

Then he came back to the Pumpkin, sneezing a bit, puffing out his wings to get rid of the flakes speckling his black feathers.

\- "What do you think he's sniffing, exactly?" Terrence whispered to Scorpius, who was drinking his tea too fast and burning his tongue. "The smell of foxes' wet fur? Or does the Axis stink of sulfur like the mouth of hell?"

There was a dazzling tingling then Albus materialized beside them.

\- "Actually, it's more like the scent of flowers", he said hoarsely. "It feels like there's some sort of a greenhouse with fruit trees in full bloom, somewhere - and I _feel_ that is where we must go."

He coughed and spat in the snow.

\- " _Flowers_ ", Terrence whispered, looking at the scarlet one that had just blossomed on the white ground. He stepped forward to catch his friend who was wobbling on his feet. "I see. I still think we're going right into a wall, like that."

\- "But the wall will open", Albus said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

He smiled. He looked exhausted but seemed more at peace than he had been for days.

\- "I wasn't talking of the Axis", the healer sighed.

Albus' green eyes glowed gold briefly.

\- "Come", he said, turning to the others. "We need to go. It's almost time."

Without waiting, he changed back to a dragon and disappeared into the night. They hastily threw away what was left of their dinner and set off again, forgetting their aching muscles and their chilled bones. In Matilda's hood, Calcifer woke up and his eyes gleamed intensely.

They walked for a really – _really_ – long time. Their lifted wands cast a silvery clarity on the uneven meandering of the _sastrugi_ , as they slipped and cursed quietly. They crossed an ice bridge so narrow they had to go one after one, followed by the Pumpkin under the weight of which some stalactites cracked and fell far below in the black sea. They did not know if they were going up or down, but the unique and immobile star above their heads seemed to become closer and closer. Ahead of them, the dragon was not slowing down and neither was Calcifer, who was now floating beside him like a red lantern in a nightmarish fog.

Suddenly, Christopher, who was walking with an iron stick, saw a spark slam on the ground.

\- "Stop!" he called, kneeling and sweeping off the snow. "There's rock!"

\- "Impossible", said Günter, turning round. "The rock is more than three thousand meters below the surface of Antarctica."

He pushed up his orange woolen hat. His gray hair was sticky with perspiration and his glasses were sliding down on his nose.

\- "Oh", Matilda gasped, pointing at something over the shoulder of Terrence who followed her gaze and let out an exclamation of surprise.

Something was flowing up silently from the ground, in the night: a flickering light, golden dust, translucent bubbles, a warm breath with the distinct scent of white plum tree blossom.

Scorpius clenched his fists in his pocket. Wendy's eyes widened. A chill raised the little hairs on Vivienne's nape. Euphrosine clasped her hands and a tear rolled down her wrinkled cheek.

\- "At last", grumbled Pepper.

The dragon and Calcifer were leaning over the crater. Toothless sniffed in and held out a cautious paw to touch the luminescent dust rising to the strange star.

\- "Here we come!" chuckled Calcifer, looping euphorically, illuminating the darkness like vermilion fireworks.

\- "Come… home… home… home…" the echo answered with a gentle female voice.

Günter swallowed hard.

\- "We found it", he croaked. " Finally. The Axis. The gate of the place where all secrets are hidden."

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: INTO THE WELL_**

 ** _Down we go, and there starts their journey to the core of all things... "Renounce", the bloody letters said. Christopher will be the first one to face a choice, but before... darkness awaits, incredible landscapes will unfold in front of their eyes and we'll learn a bit more about the Pumpkin!_**


	15. Into The Well

**INTO THE WELL**

* * *

Terrence staggered. For an instant, white hot pain flared up in his neck, then he recovered and stepped forward unsteadily.

\- "Oh. Going down is going to be such fun", he said in a slightly hoarse voice.

Wendy joined him. Her legs were so weak she had to cling to his sleeve to not fall into the pit.

\- "I can't levitate the Pumpkin down in here if I don't know how far it goes", she stammered.

The others came closer too, amazed, solemn, and leaned to see better. The strange light glints were rippling on their faces.

\- "It's so deep", Christopher breathed, fascinated.

\- "We can't see the bottom", stammered Matilda.

\- "Incredible", Vivienne whispered.

Pepper scratched his jutting chin, looking like he was seriously pondering on whether it was worth throwing a galleon in the well that had appeared from nowhere and making a wish.

A sudden flash made them jump.

\- "For the _Department of Mysteries_ ", Scorpius said defiantly, lowering the camera.

The dragon snarled, puffing his wings menacingly.

\- "You can offer them your memories in glass vials, if you like, but you will not bring this junk in the Axis", Euphrosine hissed furiously. "The Pumpkin is already enough of an intrusion."

The young blond officer furrowed his thin black eyebrows even more than before, but Günter nodded at him from across the luminescent vapor flowing off the crater.

\- " _Please_ , Malfoy", he said softly.

Scorpius snorted but he complied, putting down the camera in the snow with measured gestures, as if it was a loaded gun, under the piercing gaze of the old witch.

\- "As you wish. You'll be the one dealing with the ministry, I wash my hands off it."

\- "I'll take care of it alright", the team leader said absently. He turned to Wendy. "I don't think we're going to need to _levitate_ the Pumpkin. Some texts are making a lot more sense, now... if you could just lift it over the Axis, you'll understand."

Terrence flashed a reassuring smile to the girl.

\- "Don't worry, Wendy", he chuckled with a mischievous wink. "You'll get it in a minute."

Pepper, who did not care much for heights, climbed aboard the vehicle and sat very seriously on the red velvet seat, behind the crystal windshield. Calcifer was cackling with joy, leaping around them in the night sprinkled by snowflakes and light particles.

Matilda and Vivienne held their breath as the Pumpkin rose into the air, then slipped above the pit.

\- "Oh", Wendy suddenly said in a surprised tone.

And she lowered his wand.

The golden Pumpkin remained suspended above the well, swaying slightly, then began to sink slowly into the Axis, noiselessly, as if it was irresistibly attracted.

\- "Let's go", rasped Günter with emotion.

\- "What do you mean?" cried Christopher. "D'you mean... we need to throw ourselves in there? Just like this? But..."

\- "One step at a time, as our predecessors would say", grinned Terrence, wiping his glasses. His hands were trembling slightly. "A step of faith."

He drew in a deep breath, then jumped into the well.

His long blonde ponytail billowed up, and for a moment it looked like he was going to fly up. Then he stifled a strangled exclamation, staring at the dazzling light coming from the abyss, which was reflected in his round glasses, and then the strange gravity sucked him in, slowly but surely.

Vivienne bit her lip. She pushed her flaming hair over her shoulder, then resolutely jumped into the Axis. Matilda's teeth were chattering, but her dark eyes showed the same determination. She clutched the straps of her backpack as if it was a parachute and did like the astronomer with a small squeak.

Their faces lit up in delight and awe. The redhead waved her arms and laughed.

\- "It's amazing! It's like swimming in champagne!"

Scorpius and Christopher shared an incredulous look.

\- "Who takes baths in champagne?" muttered the geologist.

\- "Aren't you going?" replied the government agent, eyeing him through his half-closed eyelids.

Cadwallader snorted. He shifted his weight from one leg to another, waddling like a child caught doing something bad.

\- "Hum", he said.

\- "Go on, you two. I'll go last", said Günter kindly.

Calcifer twirled up like a will-o'-the-wisp, with a sneer. Euphrosine was contemplating the well and the strange shimmering light was smoothing her wrinkles, giving her fleetingly the face of a young girl lost in a dream.

Wendy cautiously walked around the crater, watching where she put her feet in the melted and slippery snow. She came to the dragon and grabbed a handful of black fur.

\- "Al... can you come with me?" she whispered.

The glow of the Axis was dancing in her gray eyes, both fascinated and terrified at the same time. Toothless crooned, rubbing his big head against the mechanic's shoulder and almost throwing her off balance. His huge wing picked up the girl and put her on the ebony neck where she had sat for her first flight, seven years ago.

The golden split green eyes met the fiery orbs of Calcifer. Then, in a flurry of black feathers, the dragon dove into the abyss with his rider.

On the other side of the crater, Scorpius clenched his fists again. He absently corrected the tie knot sticking out of his shirt, smoothed back his pale bangs. Then, lifting up his delicate chin and the pointed nose he had inherited from his father, he too jumped into the well.

The strange gravity snatched him and lifted him with a mother's gentleness. His stomach made a looping - and then he felt himself falling. For a second, he wanted to fight it, to hang on to something, but then he realized it was useless: he was falling, but with a nonchalant, silky, reassuring slowness. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. When he opened his eyes, he was already much lower. He tipped his neck back, saw far above Euphrosine's rustling petticoats, a ball of fire convulsed with tinkling laughter and the shadow of Günter who was jumping in the pit, holding Christopher's arm.

 _Now they were all in the Axis, falling inevitably towards their fate._

Scorpius risked a look down and a vague of dizziness made him close his eyes again. He was falling to nowhere, like a star detached from the sky, gliding languidly towards the ocean early in the morning. The well's walls were too far away to touch them, but he could see sequined asperities drawing a strange lace on the smooth blue stone.

A few meters below him, the dragon was hovering quietly, his long black wings stretched lazily. On his back, Wendy was leaning down to see better.

\- "Oh! Look!" she cried, pointing at something lower than them. "What are they doing here? Al, d'you think they-"

A long plaintive moan took away the rest of her words and Scorpius, dumbfounded, saw about twenty meters under his swaying shoes, a humpback whale flying with a swarm of fireflies.

It crossed the well and disappeared without rushing. When he came down almost to where the whale had crossed, Scorpius found a sort of transverse tunnel opened in the wall. A cold wind of ripe mango fragrance blew in his face.

He blinked, his arms raised in front of him.

\- "Watch out. That's hydrium", someone said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't breathe it, it's dangerous in such quantity."

Euphrosine was now floating beside him, looking as uncomfortable as if someone had asked her to show her underwear. She was clutching her skirts and waving from time to time her little feet shod in old-fashioned boots. Her thin white braid was fluttering on her neck. Her hooked nose was glistening with nervousness and there was a hint of madness in her sunken blue orbs. This time the light from below was digging deep her wrinkles, giving her the pale and shiny look of an old lady plastered with rose cream.

\- "Keep your eyes open, my boy, or you'll get yourself killed!"

Scorpius wanted to retort something like "I'm not a child, I can take care of myself, thank you" or "spare me your physics lesson, old witch, or I shall remind you kindly that we are falling at the moment into an anti-gravitational well", but he was too busy trying to control the shameful yet very rational fear that was twisting his guts.

Calcifer brushed past him like a red and burning comet, brushed the dragon's wings, passed Vivienne and Matilda who let go a cry of surprise and dove to Terrence.

\- "Almost there!" called the healer a little later.

\- "I hope they've chained the hellhounds, down there", growled the voice of Cadwallader above Scorpius who was asking himself a similar question, blinded by the light that was lining the bottom of the well...

 _No, not the bottom._

Thirty meters down below, the abyss was not ending. Instead, the crater grew larger – much, much larger.

The beauty that suddenly filled their eyes took their breaths away.

It was as if they were in the sky - but the sky was at the same time under their feet and over their heads. White cream clouds were swelling behind the twin arches of sapphire and aquamarine shades. Long arrows of light were darting through the skies, brushing the snowy mountain tops bursting through the ocean of foam, pointing up or upside down in dark blue sharp peaks. They could hear the deep breathing of a sea they could not see and stars were twinkling, bright and mischievous, on either side of the dazzling sun swallowing the horizon.

The dragon was flying gracefully around them, barely slowed down by the pressure of the cottony senseless gravity of the Axis. Wendy was gripping his ebony fur, her eyes shining with emotion as she gazed at the beautiful landscape. She felt so tiny in front of the glorious dawn born in the center of the Earth.

Terrence had taken out a telescope and was pointing it in all directions. Matilda was upside down and was giggling a bit hysterically, her dark hair spilled around her. Vivienne was consulting the astrolabe, standing in the air as if she had always been doing that. Gaping, amazed, his glasses falling on his nose, his robes upside down, Günter was rolling on himself, his hands clasped on his knees. Christopher was trying to swim and kept uttering "oh la la" like a crazy French, scratching feverishly his skull.

Euphrosine had opened her arms and Calcifer had come to snuggle in her embrace, purring: they were going down slowly, still huddled against each other, as if they had forgotten everything else.

Scorpius swallowed hard. He felt giddy like a little girl on a merry-go-round and wanted it to stop. He managed to propel himself towards the Pumpkin that was still falling and clung onto it, his heart pounding. Golden and rose sunrays were gliding on the round vehicle, glittering over the crystal windshield behind which Pepper was frozen, awestruck.

\- "Where are we supposed to land?" shouted the governement agent to Terrence, taking out his wand to begin maneuvers.

The bottom – _or was it the ceiling?_ – was coming closer alarmingly fast.

\- "Keep going!" Euphrosine ordered from above.

Calcifer's high-pitched voice was singing loudly "there was a little ship", which was not very auspicious.

The Pumpkin swayed and fell faster. Scorpius' feet were now dangling above a sea of stars and they suddenly brushed against something that rippled like the surface of a lake. The stars blurred up, then reappeared and the legs of the young man sank through the dark purple sky. He raised his head, shot a distraught glance at the others and saw they were following him.

The sun was sweeping the horizon in bursts of dazzling whiteness and Scorpius closed his eyes in spite of himself. He felt the cool water lightly touching his neck, shivered and held his breath.

But nothing happened and he opened his eyes again when he realized he was not drowning.

He was even dry.

He was falling again between the dark walls of the Axis. Above him, he could see the twilight like from the bottom of a well.

 _Was he still going down? No, maybe he was going up, now..._

His brain knew what he was reading before he even understood the walls were covered with silver runic inscriptions casting a strange glow. There was still a light, very very far below - _above?_ \- but it looked pale and inaccessible.

\- "This is where we take off from the highway", said Terrence suddenly clinging to the Pumpkin that swayed, waking up the nauseating dizziness in Scorpius' stomach.

\- "Wha-at?" he stammered.

The healer pointed his wand to a big hole in the wall: another transverse tunnel.

\- "Calcifer said _second to the right_ ", he explained laconically. "Help me out, we need to maneuver the vehicle in there and then we'll have to get the others."

It did not go easily. Spells were bouncing languidly on the Pumpkin. Finally, the dragon, clutching the vehicle in his claws, managed to throw it in the tunnel entrance. He then went after Matilda who was still falling and came back flapping his wings to fight against the suddenly hostile gravity.

Günter was the last to set foot in the underground gallery. He gave a last look to the abyss, then turned to his teammates. Panting, they had slumped on the uneven rocky ground, overwhelmed by the return of proper gravity.

\- "Come on", he said with a kind smile. "Let's go. We've never been so close."

\- "Excuse me, but shouldn't we keep going straight?" Christopher interjected. "Why go through a random gut?"

\- "The North Pole is up ahead", Wendy sniggered. "Don't you know Santa Claus isn't an educational invention, but a Spanish eccentric philanthropist condemned by the Rennes Convention? Did you come all the way to here to get an autograph of the big bearded fellow or is it that you thought you'd be able to sneak in his magic chocolate factory?"

\- "Spare me your stupid comments. I mean-"

\- "Shut it, you two", snapped Scorpius, annoyed. "It's not a _random_ gut, look at what the runes are saying."

\- "We c-can't r-read them", shyly reminded Matilda.

The government agent smoothed back his bangs, exasperated.

\- "What I wanted to say _is_ Calcifer is right. The runes are saying this mineshaft goes straight to _the core of the world_. This is the way in."

\- "This is _one_ of the ways in", corrected the small daemon, cleaning his fire fur with as much care as a cat. "Besides, Calcifer's _always_ right. Isn't it, Euphrosine?"

The old witch rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. She got up and looked at the darkness down the tunnel.

\- "We should move forward when we still have the strength to", she said.

Pepper had come out of the Pumpkin and was discreetly clearing his throat as he examined the place, like a great expert in an art exhibition. Vivienne had put away the astrolabe and was glancing at the dragon with concern. He was lying down, breathing heavily, his mouth half open like a cat in pain. A bit of foam was frothing at his purple lips and some whitish slime was oozing in the corner of his golden slit green eyes.

\- "Er..." said the young woman. "Maybe we should camp here for a while..."

Terrence nodded grimly. He had noticed the state of the dragon long before the astronomer.

\- "We don't know what trials await us", he added. "We need to have a bite and to sleep a wink. Otherwise we won't go far."

\- "It's almost four in the morning", said Scorpius, after checking his pocket watch.

\- "So late!" Wendy cried, aghast.

\- "So early!" Matilda squealed at the same time.

Günter chuckled.

\- "I agree with our wise healer", he said with his usual friendly humor. "We'll stay here until tomorrow."

And suddenly they realized how bad they were aching, how much they were frozen and broken by all the emotions they had experienced.

Pepper went back inside the Pumpkin and began to make noises of pans and crockery. Wendy stood up on shaky legs and went to help him. Christopher stretched out his limbs and leaned against the wall, looking visibly relieved. He did not move for a while, then picked up a handful of pebbles on the uneven ground and started to examine them with rekindled eyes.

Günter had a few words with Scorpius who had settled on a large rock to write his report, then he went to Euphrosine who was still standing motionlessly, staring at the darkness.

\- "Can you wait a few more hours?" he asked softly.

He had put his hand on the old woman shoulder, but his eyes had locked with Calcifer's. The small daemon stretched lazily.

\- "Well", he puffed, "a few more hours won't make anything different to decades of waiting. Besides, Miss Howler, you know how you are when you haven't slept enough."

The witch heaved a sigh, but she stopped looking away, sat down heavily and started to look through the tapestry bag Pepper had brought her silently.

An hour later, they were all sitting around a bouquet of blue flames, stuffing themselves with hot onion soup and buttered crunchy croutons, and all speaking at once.

\- "Do you think those were the real stars, earlier?"

\- "It's not r-really c-c-cold, d-did you n-notice? It's like Spring i-in England."

\- "Have you seen that whale? Where did it come from? I wonder if we'll find other creatures!"

\- "What the heck was that nonsensical cave?"

\- "Heavens!"

\- "Well, depending on the translation, it might actually be Hell.

\- "Christopher, you're scaring Matilda."

\- "The compass' broken and the astrolabe is blocked on Orion. Do you think we're _really_ down this hole? Maybe we're actually in another world – on a different planet!"

\- "In my opinion, we won't be able to go back the same way..."

\- "How long can we stay in the Axis?"

\- " _At the skylark's song_... maybe we'll just need to wait until we hear a bird singing. Like a signal..."

\- "But what will _the dog_ come for?"

\- "A little more soup, sir?"

\- "In any case, nobody will believe us! This weightless descent into the depths of Earth... no wonder the books about the Axis are so vague!"

\- "Euphrosine, d-did you also c-come through here in 1927?"

\- "How far does this tunnel go?"

\- "Oh, please, tell us, Euphrosine. What awaits us there?"

But the old witch was not listening. She was lost in the contemplation of the flames, a blanket draped around her shoulders.

Christopher had noticed some Nibblers rummaging in the shadows and had drawn a security perimeter with lava rocks he had brought with him as a precaution. Vivienne had washed her hair. Her soap smell made Matilda plan on taking a foot bath, hoping it would help with the blisters she had just discovered in her boots. Scorpius was still furiously writing in his thick notebook, in between spoonfuls of soup and dry comments. Wendy was taking part in the conversation, but she kept glancing anxiously at the Pumpkin from which Terrence had banished them all.

Albus had suddenly changed back to a human and had collapsed immediately. They had had to carry him to his bunk. He was trembling of exhaustion. His hands were clammy; his lips bloodless, his face drained like one of a very old man or of a child at the gates of death. The healer had cursed when he had checked his best friend's temperature. He had tried to coax Albus into having some food and water, but without success. When he was not trying to cool his patient's forehead, Terrence was now helping him catch his breath in between bouts of heartbreaking coughing.

There were already several bloodstained crumpled handkerchiefs on the floor.

The Pumpkin was bigger on the inside, like most magical vehicles. There was a small kitchen, a tiny bathroom and even a broom closet. The main room was shaped like a hexagon. The myazakian dashboard was unfolding in an arc under the crystal windshield: a jumble of golden buttons, copper knobs, red and round pushers, several screens with silver needles that spewed kilometers of paper covered with hieroglyphics and zigzagging statements.

The walls were covered with tapestry and woodworks of birds, butterflies, polar bears, dragons and strange trees. There were five alcoves in the wood-paneled walls to accommodate the team members in bunk beds. There were drawers in unexpected places and sometimes, by lowering a lever, you would unfold a small desk and its chair, with an inkstand and a candlestick ready for use.

A magical glass globe gave light to the main room and only Wendy knew where were the traps which allowed the maintenance of the machine.

It was cozy, almost too much for a journey of exploration to the Center of the Earth, but no one felt very much at ease. It was as if the memories of those who had preceded them had lingered in the dusty atmosphere. A distant smell of Havana cigars and of powdered blush lingered in the lounge. The red plush of the steering seat was worn off. Someone had stuck with pictures under a bunk bed with a permanent sticking charm and the people on it showed up rarely, weary and a bit faded. In a drawer, they had found the skeleton of a small mammal, which had ran away with an ugly bone rattling. The stove had a Bayou accent and was arguing with Pepper when it was not giving a frenzied music recital, causing eruptions under the lids of the pots. The mirror of the bathroom complained of the decadent evolution of fashion and the bathtub sometimes left for a stroll, to the chagrin of whoever was using it at that time.

Usually Terrence loved the sweet madness of wizards' dwellings, but that evening, he had not the heart to be amused. He was tired, he wanted to eat in peace and to lie down and to forget the storm of horrible ideas raging in his mind, but he could not.

 _It was unfair._

 _So unfair._

He hated himself for wanting to give up the role he had chosen long ago, in the Hebrides.

He did not want to be the doctor or the friend anymore, he wanted to explore, to see, to analyze. He wanted to discover, to learn, to own the incredible knowledge harbored by the Axis. He could hear outside Christopher raving about his minerals, Matilda babbling about the snow flower, Vivienne giving a course on astronomy.

 _He wanted to be himself, to sharpen his so swift mind and to think, to develop, to understand._

 _He wanted his share._

 _He wanted Wendy._

His fist tightened on the wet cloth he was holding and some cold drops crashed to the floor.

Then Albus moaned, unconsciously seeking him, and Terrence's bitter anger crumbled down, leaving only a deep weariness in his heart and bones.

\- "I'm here", he muttered. "It's okay. I won't let you down..."

While he was grinding his teeth, he had bitten his lip and now an enamel taste was filling his mouth.

 _Renounce._

 _A gentle, tempting, caressing word - like the whisper of a snake._

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

The fire was casting a ghostly glow on the stone walls covered with runic inscriptions. Sometimes a chip of mica was flashing briefly. Günter was listening to his teammates and he was wondering what lay ahead, down the dark tunnel.

 _Would the challenges come one after one? Would they go from stunning discoveries to terrible trials?_

He could not shake off the feeling of being watched. Yet when looking around him, he only met the unfathomable red eyes of Calcifer.

 _The daemon had not left. He had not tried to run away or to hurry them down the underground gallery. Was he still bond to Euphrosine? But how? By what? Why? He seemed less threatening than in the Tower, but was he hiding something? Would he take revenge? Did he only want to be with his kin? What was he, in the end?_

Günter was worn out, but that night, he found himself unable to find slumber for several hours. The others were sleeping soundly. Some were snoring or mumbling in their sleep. Terrence sometimes got up and made the floor creak when he went to give a look at Albus whom hoarse coughs were breaking in the night from time to time.

A firefly was flittering around the globe that was turned off but still warm: a small bright blue dot dancing in the dark. As he stared at it, Günter finally felt his eyelids grow heavy and he fell asleep too.

Only then the tunnel began to rustle around the sleeping Pumpkin. Shadows swept along the shiny stone walls, soot balls whispered and ran around on their tiny legs with widening big white eyes, a breeze swirled in and out with mermaid giggles, followed by a scintillating tail of snowflakes, salt crystals and cherry flowers.

And Calcifer sang like a little boy, holding out his arms to his brothers who did not come close enough, hidden in the illusions and echoes.

That night, all the team members had the same dream.

They were aboard a three-masted boat. The swelled sails were covered with sparkling frost. The black sea pushed it forward through a field of milky green icebergs, under the very high stars. On the deck covered with a thin layer of ice a blond man was hopping, as if he was trying to warm himself up. He had big cerulean eyes on which fell his messy locks and a smile that could compete with the glow of the moon.

\- "I've got a gift for you!" he chirped, pulling from under his pink cloak a brand-new straw hat, adorned with blue satin camellias.

\- "We're going to Antarctica, Jen. It's a _woolen hat_ I need", said the girl who was watching him with amusement, huddled in a thick white fur coat.

\- "But it was so _pretty_! I had to buy it for you."

She laughed and he kissed her lightly, like an excited child.

\- "You'll see, Euphrosine. What Arne Saknussemm's book says is true, I'm _sure_ of it. It's going to be the adventure of a lifetime! We'll go down to the center of the Earth, we'll find the source of all magic, there'll be exotic flowers, unexplored forests, wonderful birds and..."

Jen stopped, breathless. His eyes were gleaming.

\- "And _dragons_ ", he whispered. "Not wild beasts, vulgar animals, but dragons as they were in the beginning of times... mythical creatures with wings of fire, eyes filled with knowledge... and we'll talk to them."

Young Euphrosine pushed back her brown hair tangled by the wind and smiled.

\- "Yes, we'll talk to them", she repeated softly.

The sea was lifting the ship on the opalescent crest of the waves and under the dark vault a shooting star was falling like a single tear.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: SOMETHING IS WATCHING IN THE DARK_**


	16. Something is watching in the dark

**SOMETHING IS WATCHING IN THE DARK**

* * *

Albus bent down to get the prosthesis leaning against the bunk and to buckle it himself but Terrence drove his hand away with an annoyed slap.

\- "You won't be able to bear it", he repeated. "You should know that better than me. Don't try to play hero, Al, it's getting ridiculous."

His friend shot him a furious look. Whatever was eating him up alive accentuated his resemblance with Harry Potter, fiercely cutting the contours of his pale face. The raging fever made his green eyes burn deep in their sockets. His black turtleneck sweater underlined his clavicles, his bony elbows, the bumps of his slumped spine. His pants had pleats on the hips and he had had to drill more holes in his belt. But the most horrible was not this gauntness; it was how his amputated leg looked like.

The stump was purple, swollen, streaked with black veins that seemed ready to burst. Terrence hurt just to look at it and dared not imagine what kind of pain he was inflicting on his best friend when he was touching the inflamed skin.

 _Buckling the prosthesis over this? No, that was unthinkable._

The healer sighed and crouched in front of the bed, putting a hand on the valid knee of his patient.

\- "If you don't have the strength to change back into a dragon, stay in the Pumpkin", he suggested. "You won't miss a thing and you'll even be able to take notes and make sketches."

Albus blushed violently.

\- " _Never_ ", he rasped. "I didn't work so hard to come here, to only see it from afar!"

Terrence bit his lower lip. He got up and pulled his wand from the pocket of his white coat.

\- "Very well", he said sharply.

He picked up the prosthesis and, summoning his medical authority, changed it into a pair of crutches. He handed them to his friend who was staring at him in disbelief.

\- "Don't make such a face", Terrence said, exasperated. "You won't be able to reverse the spell, so be happy that I'd at least leave you with an option. One has to be mental to let you move around like this! You're going to slow us down and make everyone worry and-"

\- "I'm _sorry_!" Albus snarled, standing up, his fists clenched. "I'm _sorry_ I'm a dead weight! No, actually, I'm really _sorry_ I lost my leg saving your arses in the Hebrides. If you want to know, I wish it would have been _someone else_ 's!"

His rage was taking away his breath and, inevitably, a coughing fit made him bend over in pain, swaying dangerously.

Terrence immediately stepped forward and helped him sit back on the bunk.

\- "There, there... easy..." he soothed, helping his friend sip some potion.

Albus choked, wiped with his sleeve the scarlet splashes on his chin and broke free from the hands supporting him. The cup fell. A purple liquid seeped on the wooden floor and a licorice scent filled the room.

\- You can't understand, stammered Harry Potter's son. "I'm going to _die_ …"

Terrence pursed his lips. He pushed up his glasses on his nose and inhaled deeply.

\- "You know what?" he said slowly. "I can't wait for it to be over. We _never_ should have come to Antarctica. It was _stupid_ to believe our friendship would stand through the adult world. In real life, it always turns bad when you cling to the past. Sometimes a clean break is the only thing that can let you move forward."

Albus clenched his jaws. The stinging tears in his green eyes did not overflow.

\- "I won't let you have Wendy", he hissed.

Terrence glared at him for a moment, his face hard, then he let out another sigh and the tension in his shoulders loosened.

\- "Well, I like that better", he said.

There was something in his eyes that looked like pity, but Albus did not see it. He had picked up his crutches and was already heading for the door.

They left the tunnel entrance at noon: someone grumbled that knowing the exact time did not matter much, since you could not "make day from night in this hole."

The underground gallery was just big enough to let the Pumpkin through. Shale walls were casting a silvery glow and, when your fingertips touched the trickle of clear water running on the ceiling, rainbow glints rippled all over the place.

Their soles sometimes skidded on small rolling stones and their throats were dry, as if they were breathing in the mouth of a volcano. It was not cold at all: on the contrary, they even were a bit too hot. Günter was carrying his jacket over his arm and Scorpius was in his undershirt, with his blond hair elegantly slicked back, which gave out a strange contrast.

Wendy had left the control of the vehicle to Terrence and was walking with Albus, trying not to act too much like a mother hen. The mere fact that she instinctively reached out when he stumbled seemed to infuriate him.

Matilda was holding the small hand of Pepper who was telling her stories to help her overcome her claustrophobia. Vivienne kept consulting her compass and the astrolabe. She occasionally drew chalk signs on the walls, never noticing that Euphrosine erased them systematically.

Calcifer was floating at the head, like a torch in the dark.

Christopher was in his element. He was picking up rocks, checking his notebook, tasting and scrutinizing every mineral fragment he found and talking to himself, amazed. The Shadows Nibblers had munched his fingertips during breakfast and his left hand was still a bit numb, but it did not prevent him to keep digging and poking around.

The others were looking at him with amusement and were hoping that soon would come their turn to make discoveries in their specialty.

The tunnel became larger and suddenly the Pumpkin stopped, just in time to avoid falling into the cliff that fell sheer in front of it.

\- "Oh oh", Terrence said after casting out several bright spells and realizing they got lost in the darkness before reaching anywhere up or down. "Looks like we're stuck."

Scorpius winced, trying to hide his discomfort as he gave a glance at the steep ridge. They were at the edge of a plateau, and there was nothing ahead but a thick dark void.

\- "I knew there was something fishy when Calcifer said _straight ahead_ ", Vivienne scoffed.

\- "It _is_ straight ahead!" squeaked the small daemon, scandalized. "It's not my fault if you lot are just boorish human who cannot fly!"

Matilda pointed to the other side of the chasm, so far away they could hardly see the blue wall.

\- "There's a hole o-o-over t-there", she confirmed.

\- "Yes, but the bridge is gone, if there ever was a _bridge_ ", said Wendy. "Well, what shall we do? Do we try flying with our brooms and levitating the Pumpkin? Or do we rope up and try to see how far it goes down?"

She cast a nervous glance at Albus who had flumped on a rock, out of breath, red from trying to hide his grimaces of pain. His crutches were on the ground and his hands were clutching his stump through the pinned up folds of his trousers.

\- "Amazing... truly _amazing_..." was mumbling Christopher, dangerously close to the edge, trying to assess the size of the cave.

Günter thought for a while. Then he looked up and met Euphrosine's gaze.

\- "What do you think?" he simply asked.

\- "We did not come that way", shrugged the old witch.

The team leader scratched his jaw on which a gray stubble was starting to grow back.

\- "Let's go down", he finally said. "Wendy, I think it'd be too hard to levitate the vehicle on such a distance and above such a void, even if several of us were helping you. So set it on _Tarantula_ mode. Vivienne, you will ensure security throughout the operation. Gentlemen, let's rope up. Pepper will monitor our anchor and will later apparate down there with our equipment. Christopher, you go first. You're the best experienced in these stunts."

\- "What a-about m-me?" Matilda asked worriedly.

Günter smiled.

\- "I've a special mission for you", he said.

When Wendy was done making the adjustments, the Pumpkin creaked and squeaked and the long jointed legs unfolded like mandibles. It felt the precipice rim and then clicked along the steep cliff like a huge golden spider.

Terrence and Christopher were already standing ready. They lit their headlamps with magic and followed one after another, cautiously checking where they put their steps. On a nod from their team leader, Wendy and Scorpius also engaged in the descent. Vivienne, her wand slipped in a holster on her forearm, ready to make up for a decline in strength or magic in one or the other, followed after them, with Calcifer who was dancing in the air like to taunt them.

Günter turned to the last ones.

\- "Euphrosine, I'll go with you. Albus, Matilda will help you. She's surefooted in the mountains."

The young man clenched his fists, humiliated.

\- "I'll take care of myself", he hissed.

Günter shook his head.

\- "Please, don't show unpleasant", he said firmly. "We..."

But Albus' green eyes were flecked with gold. A gust of wind shook his hair and the cave lit up briefly when he morphed.

\- "Stubborn as a donkey", sighed the team leader exasperatedly, running a hand through his ruffled gray hair.

\- "But he doesn't look so good", said Pepper disdainfully. "He looks like a skinned cat."

It was true. The dragon had lost weight too. His black fur was peeling in places and his feathers were dirty and sticky.

A dangerous gleam was dancing in his eyes. He bristled back, waved his tail in annoyance, then jumped into the abyss. For a moment it looked like he was going to fall helplessly, then his wings spread out and flapped miserably, lifting him with effort. He spluttered with anger when those who were climbing down called out to him, and glided down, disappearing into the darkness like a bat.

Tears welled up in Matilda's eyes.

\- "He doesn't t-t-trust me", she stuttered. "I'm too clumsy and I..."

As if to illustrate her words, she stumbled on the crutches. Günter grabbed her arm just in time. He patted her back as she blew her nose loudly.

\- "Golly, child! Will you stop sniveling? This has nothing to do with you", said Euphrosine with abruptness.

\- "Albus is not quite himself, right now", explained Günter more kindly. "He would never be so discourteous..."

\- "So insolent!" Pepper groused.

\- "... if he wasn't tormented like he is at the moment", completed the old man patiently. "Now, let's forget about it. He can still fly. Terrence thought he wouldn't even have the strength to change into the dragon... Let's go, the others are waiting for us."

Euphrosine picked up the crutches, but Pepper took them from her and tied them up on his backpack. He harnessed the witch carefully, then stepped back. His big bulging eyes looked at her very seriously.

\- "An elf could apparate with you", he said suddenly.

\- "Don't be ridiculous", Euphrosine retorted. "You know very well what price you'd have to pay."

Matilda sniffed as she adjusted the straps of her harness. She pulled on the rope, then smoothly followed the others, strangely graceful, as if teetering on the edge of a cliff was easier to her than walking in everyday life.

It was a long descent.

Muggy darkness was surrounding them, greedily swallowing any magical light. In the dull glow of their lamps, they were clawing their fingers on the blue stones. Sweat was running down their faces, dampening their shirt collars. They could hear the rustling of the dragon's wings, the hollow echo of a drop somewhere, the metallic creaking of the Pumpkin, the panting of the others.

Sometimes small stones rolled from the cliff and showered them. A white light flashed, someone let out a cry of surprise or a grunt of pain, and then it was dark again.

In the vast abyss, their lamps looked like a pale string of fireflies.

His arms trembling with fatigue, Christopher finally put a foot on the ground and raised his wand.

\- " _Lumos_!

The light swelled around him, illuminating for a moment the volcanic basalt ground, gray and almost too smooth, strangely oppressive, and then cowered, leaving barely a glimpse of the white dust hanging above the ground, as if waiting for something.

Christopher frowned and cleared his throat, but failed to get rid of a feeling of uneasiness.

\- "I got down!" he shouted.

His voice echoed eerily in the night of the chasm, then got lost. He jumped when the dragon landed heavily in a clatter of wings.

\- "Don't be so noisy", grumbled the geologist.

Albus changed back to a human and collapsed. Lying on the ground, his arms stretched out and short of breath, he chuckled wearily.

\- "What are you scared of? D'you think it might bring on us a horde of goblins or awaken a volcano?"

\- "Don't talk shit", Christopher whispered with a nervous glance around him.

Terrence's legs appeared first, then he jumped down into the pale glow of Cadwallader's wand.

\- "My lamp died", he said. "Wow. It's murky down there. One would almost expect a ghost army to rise from the shadows and curse us."

\- "Swanson, shut up, seriously!" barked the geologist.

He could almost feel under his soles, under the basalt cover, the velvety warmth of lava.

Yet a cold chill ran down his spine.

Wendy, Scorpius and Vivienne got there too. The redhead did not seem more out of breath than after a good jog, but the two others' faces were drawn with fatigue and grazed all over.

Terrence took off his harness, lit up his wand and began exploring, under Christopher's anxious and annoyed gaze. Wendy kneeled next to Albus and quaffed from her water bottle, clearly tempted to tell her fiancé to drink too, but scared it would provoke another outburst.

\- "Where's Calcifer?" Scorpius asked, knitting his black eyebrows.

\- "He went back to check on the others", replied Vivienne who was cleaning the dust on her neck and face with a lotus scented cloth. "Fortunately, no one slipped, I'm not sure how I could have cast a spell in this pea soup. Is it always this dark, underground? I missed the stars."

Matilda jumped loosely on the ground - to immediately to stumble in the pile of ropes.

Christopher rolled his eyes, as she got up with a wince, rubbing her elbows.

\- "It's w-warmer here t-than a-a-at the top", said the young biologist, her face flushed.

\- "I hope we won't stay here too long", muttered Scorpius who was tired of having the feeling two water balloons had burst under his armpits.

His undershirt was smeared with black streaks.

\- "D'you think there're Shadows Nibblers here?" Wendy asked, casting a wary glance around, ready to grab her wand and stun any soot ball that would dare to show up.

\- "I don't think so", Christopher said thoughtfully.

\- "Watch out, down below, here we come!" called Günter's voice from the darkness above.

Euphrosine, panting and sweating, appeared in the light like a heap of petticoats guided by the lanky figure of their team leader, who was twisted on his rope like a grasshopper.

Scorpius, Wendy and Matilda rushed to help them.

Albus watched the others without moving, trying to recover his strength. He felt like if his bones were gnawed from the inside and his chest crushed by a steel hand. Most of the time, when he was standing up, he had to fight against dizziness. Puking his guts out had become so normal that he wondered what it felt like when food tasted other than bile. His throat was raw and even fresh water could no longer appease its constant burning. Sometimes the pain in his stump throbbed to the point he could feel his heart in his mouth.

It was like if something - _oh, he knew it was someone_ – was trying to drive him out his own body.

When he got angry, all this suffering seemed to shrivel away and he felt so relieved than he forgot how he was hurting the others around him... but then moments later, the pain came back and stabbed him again with the addition of overwhelming guilt.

Sometimes he wanted to beg Terrence for a potion that would put an end to - _everything_.

But then Wendy's horrified face showed in front of his eyes and he recoiled at his own thoughts, horrified, disgusted, desperate.

 _No, he was going to live._

 _He would kill the dragon rather than give up._

And then, waves of grief washed over him and he was crying with Dewis, sobbing like a child in a cage.

 _They were both prisoners._

 _And it was by their own choices._

One could not live without the other and it was History all over again - as before, as in the his father's nightmares.

Except Voldemort had tried to _kill_ Harry but the dragon had come to _save_ Albus.

 _It was unfair._

 _It was legitimate._

 _It was insoluble._

A lukewarm tear rolled down the young man's cheek and gently pulled him from his thoughts. His back was hurting from lying on the cold stone. He rolled on himself, straightened painfully. Dizziness washed over him, then his eyes focused again on the group around Euphrosine. They were laughing, relieved, dirty, exhausted.

A water bottle appeared before him.

\- "D'you want some?" asked Scorpius' voice. "You look dried out like an April prune."

Albus chuckled weakly.

\- "Where does that come from?"

He took the bottle and took a long sip, glad to feel the cold water dripping on his sweaty hot skin.

\- "Not so fast, you're going to choke", protested Scorpius who was crouching next to him.

Pepper apparated in a loud crack with the rope, and made a pungent comment on the fact he had been left without light at the top of the cliff, but no one took offense.

\- "This is the enslavagement! I will refer to Hermione Granger!" threatened the elf, threatening them with a finger, his eyebrows gathered in a scrubby bar in the middle of his bald head, blushing to the tip of his bat ears.

\- "Oh, she will be _delighted_ ", Albus giggled. " _Enslavagement_... that's one word to put in the dictionary of every good lawyer for magical creatures!"

He handed back the bottle to Scorpius.

\- "Thank you", he said, sincerely grateful.

For everything. _For the water, for the fact they had not pushed him away despite his moodiness, for the friendship offered years ago, for patience, for being there._

Scorpius sat up, pulled the crutches to him with a flip of his wand, then reached out to his friend.

\- "Can I help you up or will it make you mad?"

Albus had the good grace to look embarrassed.

\- "Please."

Once standing and his vision back to clear after the usual swarm of black dots, he leaned on the crutches and absently counted the team members.

Terrence was at the edge of the shadow, lifting his wand to see better. Christopher was talking to Günter. Pepper was still muttering threats and Euphrosine was winding on the slender arms of the elf meters of thin rope like a huge ball of wool. Vivienne was looking for something in her backpack and Matilda was sticking plasters on her scraped hands.

\- "Where's the Pumpkin?" Wendy suddenly asked.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: FIRE BUTTERFLIES_**


	17. Fire Butterflies

**FIRE BUTTERFLIES**

* * *

A silence heavy as lead fell on them.

 _Without the Pumpkin, what would become of them? Shipwrecked in the depths of Earth, a horrible fate was surely awaiting them..._

Günter was the first to shake off the dreadful feeling.

\- "We need light", he said. "Where's Calcifer?"

\- "I'm here", sniggered the daemon – but they could not see him in the oppressive darkness of the abyss.

\- " _Here…here…here..._ " the echo chimed in with irony.

Something rustled in the shadows.

Shivering, Wendy pointed her wand in the noise's direction. Scorpius took a step forward, instinctively reaching out to Albus whose green orbs had narrowed to two golden slits. A fierce grin was curling the lips of the magizoologist and a growl was rising in his throat.

\- "There's something watching us", whispered the young mechanic.

Christopher clutched a hand on the small ax he carried in his belt. Pepper cracked his knuckles, knitting his thick bushy eyebrows. Terrence lifted higher his wand, trying to enlarge the circle of pale light.

\- "Who are you?" he called. "Friend or foe? Show yourself!"

But no one answered.

Her legs wobbling like jelly, Matilda was clinging to Vivienne's arm. The face of the astronomer had hardened and she looked perfectly capable of fighting whatever was crawling around them, hidden in the dark.

\- "Calcifer! Stop with your pranks and come out at once!" Euphrosine yelped.

A silver figure materialized suddenly among them: a young man with a big book under his arm. The old witch let out a shriek of distress.

\- "Don't do that!" she gasped, staggering.

Günter put his arm around her shoulders to prevent her from falling and his eyes flashed behind his round glasses. They had never seen him so angry.

\- "ENOUGH!" he roared.

\- "You're not being very nice to poor Calcifer", crooned the high-pitched voice of the daemon.

The ghost reaching out to Euphrosine dissolved and in his place showed up a crimson will-o'-the-wisp dancing one meter above the ground.

\- " _Tch_ ", Calcifer sighed sulkily. "Let's go, then. The Pumpkin's not very far. It's waiting."

He did not seem at all sorry to see that the old woman's breathing was ragged and hitched. Terrence had rushed to her and his eyes were throwing daggers at the fire daemon.

\- "What do we do about… whatever's watching us?" Christopher mumbled.

\- "Don't tell me it was _him_ playing at scaring us!" Vivienne exclaimed angrily.

Calcifer gave a wry chuckle.

\- "Nah, that wasn't me. Oh, but you'll be safe as long as there's light. They won't come near."

As if to confirm he was not joking, they heard a cackle of teeth like a grinning skeleton could have uttered. The small hairs on their necks stood up and a cold shudder prickled their skins.

Calcifer slid off into the darkness, and they had no other choice but to follow him.

Around them, the shadows were thick, menacing, moving closer and closer. It was as if hands or claws were brushing them. Sometimes they heard a clatter of small stones, as if something or someone invisible was running off abruptly.

Matilda's eyes were dilated and her throat dry. She was squeezing the hand of the astronomer who kept her wand ready to strike. Albus was hobbling on his crutches, his gaze still as wild as a frightened cat's. Scorpius was at his side, frowning so hard his eyebrows looked like the V of a bird sketch. Wendy was walking behind them, on alert. She cast frequent glances around her and when she was startled, thinking she had caught sight of something, a shower of sparks burst from her wand in the dark, scattering the shadows with a _frrissht_.

Günter and Terrence were helping Euphrosine and Christopher brought up the rear, very nervous.

\- "It was _him_ , wasn't it?" he muttered to Pepper who was trotting beside him. "The bloke we saw earlier – t'was the one on the boat, from our dream..."

He lowered his voice even more.

\- "Euphrosine's fiancé, eh? The one who disappeared in the Axis..."

Pepper only snorted haughtily.

A white light grew in the darkness, flickering like the reflection of the moon in a pond. They moved faster and the shadows crowded around them, irritated, like if their preys were about to escape. The light from their wands and their headlamps were wavering, pale and dull.

\- "What's that?" Vivienne murmured.

\- "The Pumpkin!" Wendy cried with relief at the same time.

While the others stopped, stunned, jostling each other, the young mechanic ran to the vehicle which was waddling towards her like a big clumsy puppy, creaking and squeaking.

\- "Good girl! You okay?"

Wendy quickly checked the golden belly covered with dust, without finding the slightest scratch. The long articulated legs were jingling around her, as if to tell her something.

\- "It's gross", said the disgusted voice of Vivienne.

\- "Very bad taste", Scorpius added in an angry tone meant to hide his fear.

\- "Who do you think it belonged to?" Terrence asked with interest.

Wendy turned round and her eyes widened. In the white light was a gray basalt promontory veined in purple, on which stood a skull.

 _A human skull._

 _Transparent as crystal._

Calcifer's flames were giving it red glints, making the hollow orbs and the sharp jaws look like they were grinning disturbingly.

\- "Maybe it was Arne Saknussemm's", suggested Albus.

Günter cleared his throat. He left Euphrosine to Terrence's care and stepped forward, studying the skull and tying his hands behind his back, as if he was in the Tower on an ordinary day. Without touching the smooth, shiny head, he examined it carefully. Then he straightened up, took off his glasses and wiped them before putting them back on his nose.

\- "I'd say this is _Merlin_ 's", he said in a slightly hoarse voice. "Look at these high cheekbones, that's exactly how he's described in the ancient books! Oh, and we can even see the little bones of the ear, it's amazing... did you know he had the ears of a house elf?"

Pepper bowed superbly.

\- "Come on, stop it now", snickered Cadwallader incredulously. "It's a well-imitated glass paperweight, that's all!"

\- "What is it doing here?" Vivienne asked, torn between disgust and amazement at the so valuable discovery.

\- "The notes weren't saying anything about this", said Terrence thoughtfully.

\- "There might be an inscription", said Günter.

He frowned, rubbed his hands on his robes and, with respect, lifted the skull…

… and _disappeared_.

The skull fell back on his pedestal quietly.

Matilda squealed in terror.

\- "Where is he?" Vivienne wailed, horrified.

Calcifer burst in laughter and vanished, leaving them in only the flickering white light, terribly vulnerable in the circle of rattling shadows.

In the racket of frightened exclamations, Wendy cast a spell that soared like a blue arrow in the dark and then exploded, showering them with bright sparks.

But then it was again as if the light was quickly fading.

Albus was chewing the inside of his cheek. He gathered his crutches in one hand and hopped on one foot to the pedestal. He thought for a few moments, then suddenly reached out and put a hand on the crystal skull.

\- "NO!" Scorpius screamed.

But it was too late. Albus had vanished too.

In the rising panic, Terrence left Euphrosine to Christopher and made his way to the front.

\- "Calm down, everyone! Calm down!" he shouted. "Please, be quiet. We'll find a solution."

The elf immediately obeyed. Distraught, Matilda turned to the healer. Vivienne straightened up, pursing her lips and clenching her fists to hide the trembling of her hands. Wendy blinked back her tears and the Pumpkin lightly touched her cheek with the tip of one of its mandibles. Scorpius closed his eyes for a second and drew a deep breath that brought a little color to his ashen face.

Christopher, who was struggling under the weight of the old witch, stretched his back.

\- "Go ahead, genius", he grunted. "Enlighten us and be quick. I'm sick of this hole."

Terrence's thoughts were whirling fast.

\- "First, Pepper, try to see if you can find your master."

\- "Pepper is a free elf", replied the servant in his usual monotone voice. "He goes where he wants – when he wants."

He snapped his fingers - and nothing happened.

Astonished, he widened his eyes.

\- "Pepper is still here", he noted. "He could not apparate."

\- "But earlier, you c-could", stuttered Wendy.

\- "We're stuck!"

\- "There's a serious problem with magic, down here!"

\- "What w-will we d-d-do?"

Terrence raised his hands to prevent the collective anxiety from swelling even bigger.

\- "Wait a minute."

He tapped his nose, crossed his arms and stared at his shoes for a time that seemed interminable to others.

\- "Well. This is where we stand", he finally said. "This skull could be a trap. Like, maybe it put them out of phase with us. We may think Günter and Albus left, but in fact they're still there, invisible to our eyes and ears. Or, it could turn people into dust. Literally."

Something passed in the shadows beyond the circle of light.

 _A whisper or a quick movement._

Wendy felt like if a greedy and cruel gaze was drilling in her back. _If she turned round, would she glimpse..._

\- "But I don't think it's the case", Terrence continued. "Last, it could be a Portkey."

\- "But it's _still_ here!" someone squeaked.

\- "Some sort of a Portkey", clarified the healer. "I think we should try it – all at once."

There was a new storm of anguished protests.

\- "What if it sends us to different places?

\- "Why should you be the one to decide of our fate?"

\- "We're all g-g-going to d-die!"

\- "Are you sure it's a Portkey?"

Terrence met the determined gaze of Wendy and smiled.

\- "No, I'm not sure", he said simply. "But I think it's our best option. Maybe this is the only way out, actually. Like some sort of an intellectual challenge."

The girl nodded.

\- "Let's do it", croaked Euphrosine. "The light is fading."

Christopher cast an anxious glance around him.

\- "Yes, and I doubt a bunch of lava rocks would be able to keep at a distance whatever's lurking in the shadows."

Vivienne nodded and Matilda feverishly did the same. Scorpius only clutched harder his wand whose light was sputtering weakly. Pepper grunted something that sounded like "okay".

\- "Albus' crutches left with him and so did Günter's bag", said Terrence, turning to Wendy. "If you climb on the Pumpkin and hold tight of it, it should follow us."

The darkness was swishing angrily. The circle of light was shrinking rapidly. Scorpius glimpsed a gleam that could have been of a claw or an eye. Something brushed Matilda's ankle. She stifled a cry of terror and grabbed Vivienne's sleeve.

\- "Everybody ready?" asked Terrence.

Sweat was glistening on his brow.

The skull was glowing in the dark, illuminated from within. They huddled around it, reached out holding their breath, waiting for the signal.

\- "Now!"

The moment their fingers touched the smooth and strangely warm skull, a familiar sensation hooked at their navel, tore the darkness closing on them and sent them spinning out of the abyss. A million stars dazzled them, sparkling on their retinas like crackling fireworks, and then they were suddenly spat in a place filled with golden light.

In a din of dented metal, Pumpkin rolled, bounced and finally landed, lifting a wave of water.

\- "Ah, here they come", said the relieved voice of Günter.

\- "And in one piece, what's more", sneered Calcifer.

\- "You okay, mates?" Albus asked in an amused tone.

They slowly stood up, groaning. They had crashed in a tangle of arms and legs. When they could see more clearly, they remained stunned for a while, mouths gaping.

\- "Amazing", finally gasped Scorpius.

\- "It's beautiful", breathed Vivienne.

\- "I can't believe it", Terrence stammered.

A butterfly with wings like incandescent parchment landed on Vivienne's nose and its silky legs tickled her. She sneezed and made a move to chase it but Euphrosine stopped her.

\- "Don't touch it", she wheezed. "It's a _Savoir_. One should not try to catch or own them. Just let them whisper in your ear."

Wendy stood up, dripping with delicately scented fresh water. She had crashed a little further than the others, tumbling with the vehicle into a river lined with white sand. A fish wagged in her sleeve and jumped off, drawing a brief iridescent bow in the air before diving again.

They were in _a forest_. Tall trees with gnarled trunks were deploying their green foliage above their heads. The soft ground was covered with bright grass, mossy rocks, and ferns of emerald shades. A benevolent clarity was threading gold veils through the green canopy and the lush bushes, playing with the garlands of small yellow and blue flowers, speckling with light the mushrooms with curious brown hats. Old jagged branches laced with lichen were bowing over the river, peppered with pink and white clusters of egret flowers. In a clearing, insects were buzzing unhurriedly in a luminous haze.

Everything smelled good and the birds were chirping with the crystalline song of the river. It was…

\- "Heav-v-ven", stuttered Matilda.

\- "For vegetarians and biologists perhaps", Günter laughed. "But I daresay the others would miss some game and modern comfort. Wendy, do you need help getting the Pumpkin out of the water? I don't think it's wise to let it soak. "

The butterfly kissing Vivienne's nose flew off and the mechanic blinked, shaking off the blissful tranquility that had benumbed her. She set to work. Albus, from the bleached stump on which he was sitting, helped her move the vehicle to a more stable and drier place.

Two hours later, they were all settled. There was something in the air or in the water that revived strength, soothed muscles, erased pain, filled you with an optimistic feeling.

Vivienne and Günter were singing a duet, one brushing her flaming hair, her head down, the other splashing his feet in the fresh water. Scorpius was laying flat in the soft grass, writing his report, his blond bangs still damp from his bath. Pepper was coming back, his arms filled with an abundant picking of mushrooms and berries. Euphrosine was sitting in a wicker chair, enjoying the light breeze that swirled through the trees.

Matilda was kneeling with her little shovel, her tiny scissors and her enormous pink ostrich quill. There was soil on her cheeks. She was drawing and scribbling eagerly, pasting samples in her herbarium.

Terrence was labelling bottles. He had made provision of medicinal herbs. In the hammock suspended under a greenery ark, Christopher was snoring, his arms crossed under his head.

Wendy and Albus had gone... 'see if there were creatures'. They had fooled no one. They came back after some time, holding hands, and of course, they had found nothing.

Calcifer was perched in a tree, almost invisible in the golden light, and seemed thoughtful. With his head buried in his crop of tawny flames, he could have been confused with a big red hen.

Butterflies with incandescent wings were dancing in the camp, as free as thoughts.

At supper, Pepper served a creamy omelet with mushrooms, which was devoured in less time than it takes to say the word _Quidditch_ , and he was acclaimed for his shortcake with berries.

Everyone was enjoying the turnaround after the long trek across the frozen fields of _sastrugi_ , the endless fall to the bottom of the Axis, the trudging along the narrow underground gallery, the tiring climbing down the cliff and especially the horrible time spent in the dark abyss. But many questions remained unanswered and once their stomachs were full, their bodies rested after several hours of peaceful sleep - _night had never fallen, but the light had dimmed for a while_ \- the team members felt ready to go back hunting mystery.

The Pumpkin stood up and scratched, puzzled, the moss beginning to embroider a green lace under its heavy golden belly, and it followed Wendy who was whistling.

A cloud of butterflies flew off from a bush, leaving behind a shimmering powder trail, flitting unhurriedly.

Terrence was walking with Christopher, joking forcefully. The geologist was being uncharacteristically nice to the healer. He knew what was eating up his colleague: he had overheard Terrence's conversation with Albus, the day before, when accidentally stepping in the Pumpkin to get a clean shirt at the time the healer was giving his best friend his daily check-up.

\- "How did you guess it was a Portkey and not something potentially deadly?"

\- "I didn't know", Albus had replied, looking down. "It was that or dying in the shadows. I thought it might take me to _someone_. I could have negotiated to get you out of there."

Terrence's face was frozen as he was rummaging through his medical kit.

\- "I knew you were an idiot, but I always thought you would prove me wrong someday", he had croaked after a moment.

\- "I'm sorry", Albus had whispered.

And then there had been only silence.

Christopher was thinking that, sometimes, having no friends was much easier.

The forest stretched out for kilometers and kilometers. They were still searching from where the light came: there were no skies, only the ceiling of a cave far above the trees, fringed with long translucent stalactites. The breeze was light and fragrant and they always heard birds, but they saw none. The ground was soft and pleasant under their soles. They were following the river, hoping it would bring them to a source of some sort.

The fire butterflies were also fluttering in that direction. Christopher feared them a little: when one of them had landed on his arm, in the afternoon, he had felt a sharp pain in his foot. And later, he had seen Terrence cringe, rubbing his neck, while another butterfly was kissing his ear.

Another day came, without anything new. Matilda was thrilled, but the others were beginning to feel a little worried. Vivienne thought that perhaps all this was just another trap, a golden cage to replace the terror they had left in the abyss.

But it was hard to imagine anything hostile in this pristine paradise-like forest.

At the end of morning, they finally found a creature.

It was Euphrosine who spotted it first. With a small gasp, she stopped dead and brought a hand to her brow.

\- "Hello", she said in a soft voice.

The others followed her gaze and several exclamations were stifled.

\- "Ohmygosh. What an ugly little thing", breathed Vivienne.

It was indeed ugly, even if Matilda would swear to the end she found them absolutely adorable. It was a chubby baby ghost, sporting a grotesque bobblehead rolling on his shoulders with a rattling sound.

The creature seemed quite harmless and intrigued at seeing them. Perched on a large stump, it looked at them for awhile. Then it dissolved like a vapor and disappeared.

\- "What on Earth was that?" Christopher grumbled.

\- "A dabberblimp", Albus chuckled. "Dabberblimps are nocturne aquatic creatures -"

\- "Stop making fun of her", Wendy sighed.

\- "Her who?" Günter asked.

\- "His sister's godmother, Luna Lovegood", said the mechanic.

\- "There was a student with that name at Hogwarts", Pepper said thoughtfully.

\- "Do you think it will come back?" Scorpius asked, frowning, looking at the notebook he was holding.

He had not finished the drawing under which he had scribbled "first contact with the natives."

Euphrosine smirked.

\- "Oh it will", she said. "And not alone. Matilda, you know what it is, isn't it?"

The biologist nodded, her cheeks blushing.

\- "It's a forest s-spirit, also c-called _Echo_ or _Moon Child_. They're found in v-v-very old woods, where the v-vegetation has not been sullied by p-p-pollution. It's the first t-time I see one f-for real."

\- "What I want to know", said Günter very seriously, "it's why the _moon_. There isn't the slightest hole in the ceiling of the cave - as far as we know - and we are miles underground..."

A golden butterfly landed on his shoulder and he smiled, picked it up on the tip of his finger and let it fly away.

\- "Come on, let's go", he said dreamily.

The breeze was soft, whispering quietly in the lush canopy.

They spotted another spirit an hour later.

\- "It's not the same one", said Terrence. "It looks taller and thinner than the other."

\- "I wish they would stop with that dreadful noise", mumbled Vivienne.

The sound of disembodied bells the little creatures were making when rolling their heads was making her very nervous.

Two or three other Moon Children showed up again later, popping out of the brown ground like mushrooms under the rain. They ran alongside the travelers and Matilda kept babbling about them, calling them 'cute little cherubs', which made Scorpius roll his eyes and stumble upon roots more often than the biologist. Christopher and Terrence were having a lot of fun making signs to the small fellows who mirrored them immediately.

The Pumpkin was still following Wendy, its long jointed legs knitting along, struggling in the green lianas cascading gracefully from the trees.

Pepper had engaged in a great debate with Albus about Luna Lovegood and Günter was listening to them, laughing softly while his gaze followed the flight of the golden butterflies.

It took them a while to realize Calcifer was gone.

But before anyone could panic or accuse the daemon of running away, Euphrosine put a finger to her lips.

\- "He'll be back", she whispered, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "He's afraid of the Echo."

And indeed, Calcifer only came back at dinner time. He was bragging in his shrill voice that he could guzzle fourteen dozens of eggs at once when a forest spirit suddenly popped next to Christopher. Calcifer bristled and vanished immediately, forgetting his bacon booty. Everyone laughed and the Moon Child rolled his head with a rattling sound. It was as expressionless like usual, but the team members could have sworn it was chuckling.

In the dim light of evening, the glowing butterflies were bustling over the river.

At dawn - _or at least when Scorpius' dreadful watch claimed it was dawn_ \- they resumed walking and soon the forest started changing. There were fewer flowers and the trees seemed older, the woods darker, the bushes thicker and the river slower.

There were more of the small ghostly creatures.

 _More of butterflies with wings of fire too._

Finally they stepped in a big clearing. There was a body of water with a greenish sheen, broken up by small patches of mossy umbels, caressed by the golden light flickering in between the trees and barely rippled by the rapid course of a water spider or the kiss of a Savoir.

Terrence took out the telescope from his bag.

\- "Looks like there's the entrance of another cave over there", he said, handing the instrument to Günter who put it to his eye and said nothing for a moment.

Crouching on the bank, Matilda was taking samples of astilbes and gratiolas.

\- "According to the astrolabe, we should go this way indeed", said Vivienne. She shook once or twice the compass, then sighed. "I don't know how it works without stars, but it's more useful than this thing which has lost the North."

A flock of glowing butterflies took off behind them and went off like a long golden ribbon, fluttering towards the dark hole barely visible beyond the water.

The Spirits rattled all together and then faded away with, for the first time, a strange smile on their lunar faces.

\- "We're going through", said Günter.

\- "I'll need help with the Pumpkin", warned Wendy who had evaluated the distance. "It's waterproof, okay, but it's not a submarine."

\- "Maybe it could go from one island to another on its own", Scorpius said. "If you set it on _Guerris_ mode, it should help."

The mechanic thought a moment then her face brightened.

\- "Not bad, Malfoy", she said.

Terrence glanced at Albus, already dreading the inevitable argument: he did not think it was very healthy to wade into stagnant water with a leg in this state.

\- "I hope it's not too deep", said Christopher.

He probed the bottom of the pond with a stick, making a greenish cloud of mud billow up, then cast a spell on himself to stay dry and jumped into the water. It came to his waist.

\- "Hum. Looks okay so far. Matilda, is it likely to be deeper later?"

Surprised to be asked about such an important issue, the young woman blushed.

\- "Uh", she stammered. "I don't think it will, b-b-but you n-never know... maybe t-there're some water holes..."

\- "And this is the Axis, remember!" Calcifer trumpeted, appearing from nowhere. "Stay alert!"

Everyone else jumped, but the biologist lost her balance and slipped on the mossy bank. She closed her eyes, expecting to land into the water with a resounding splash, but nothing happened. She only fell on something soft, silky and lukewarm.

\- "Merlin's beard", someone uttered in an astonished voice and she timidly opened her eyes to discover she was sitting _on the surface of the water_.

The others were staring at her in amazement.

\- "Wicked", said Terrence.

\- "How do you do that?" Vivienne gasped.

Matilda tried to sit up and succeeded quite easily. Her cheeks pink with pleasure, she walked around and never sank.

Under her feet, the water was rippling and small silver fish were fleeing her shadow. She could see perfectly the slender algae, the gravel mixed with mica flakes and even some strange shells that did not belong to the world outside of the Axis.

\- "It's a-a-amazing!" she cried in glee.

Christopher looked annoyed, still standing in the water, but Günter and the others were totally thrilled by this new development.

\- "Let's see if it works with me", suddenly said Terrence.

Without hesitation, he went down the riverbank.

The water did not even brushed his ankles. In a few steps, he had joined Matilda, miraculously walking over the pond.

\- "Unbelievable", said Günter delighted.

He stepped forward too - and fell heavily, splashing all those who were around. Spluttering, soaked, he got up, helped by Christopher, with such a disappointed face they took pity on him and did not laughed - well, except for Calcifer who was cackling.

\- "So it doesn't work with everyone", Scorpius muttered. "Let me see."

He protected himself with a waterproofing charm and stepped forward cautiously.

But the magic worked on him too and he looked up, delighted and puzzled, holding back with great difficulty the excitement of a child.

Wendy dashed forward - and found herself skating on the body of water, screaming with glee.

Albus was the next one to go down the bank. At first they thought it wasn't going to work with him because his crutches sank and made him lose his balance, but not an inch of his body passed through the surface. Terrence came to him and put his friend's arm over his shoulders to support him.

To his pleased surprise, Albus did not push him away.

The butterflies with wings of fire were back, bustling happily around them.

Euphrosine picked up her skirts and held out a wary boot to the water. She took a deep breath. She locked eyes with Günter whose gray hair was dripping and who smiled at her, motioning that he would catch her if necessary.

But the old witch did not sink and burst into childish giggles when she realized she also could walk on water.

Vivienne tied her crimson mane into a high ponytail. She puffed her cheeks, focused and stepped forward...

... to find herself deep in the murky water, mortified and soaked from her feet to her head.

Pepper got the same humiliating fate and Christopher had to rescue him, since the elf was so small that you could only see the tip of his hooked nose when he was standing in the pond.

\- "All right, then", said the team leader. "Let's go!"

Calcifer was wiping off fake tears of hilarity and those who had sank had the satisfaction to see him holler in terror when a forest spirit suddenly appeared behind the fire daemon and reached out as if to pull on his tail.

Wendy took out her wand and levitated the Pumpkin. She swung on her heels under the weight, but did not sink. Scorpius helped her and they lifted the vehicle from one island to the other, leaving it trudge when there was a bridge of gnarled and mossy trunks in between two islets. Euphrosine walked ahead merrily, as if she was going to a picnic, accompanied by a swarm of silver fish visibly fascinated by the dance of her skirts above the surface.

Terrence had fished out the crutches and had elongated them into stilts so Albus would be able to walk by himself while the healer was peering around with the telescope.

The incandescent butterflies were flying by their side, glimmering in the light filtering through the lush canopy, drawing golden arabesques over the smooth surface of the water.

Christopher had loaded Pepper on his shoulders, despite the outraged protests of the elf. Günter was progressing slowly, hampered by his heavy soaked robes. Mud puffed up at every step and Vivienne occasionally let out a small yelp, claiming a pike was biting her, a catfish tickling her or leeches were slipping into her boots. But no one was listening to her complaints.

Everybody had a theory on why some were able to walk on water and others not, but no one felt satisfied with any.

Terrence was the only one silent. He also had an idea, but he found it embarrassing and preferred to keep it to himself.

After several hours, they finally reached the other side, and the entrance of another cave. Christopher went to take a look at it with Scorpius and Terrence.

It was a sloping gallery in series of terraces, with delicate alabaster embroideries and rimstone pools filled with opaline ice water.

\- "Well, it might be too cold to take a bath, we won't die of thirst, at least", said Terrence ironically.

Christopher laughed with him and it startled them both.

This strange journey had brought them together and they were struggling to remember why they had hated each other so much.

But then they heard Albus' crutches behind them and Terrence darkened, his memory refreshed.

A golden butterfly brushed Christopher's ear and he gasped in pain, quickly lifting his foot to check if he had stepped on a thorn.

\- "Is it the way, then?" Albus asked. "Vivienne is pestering Günter – as if a _Neochanna apoda_ would really want to lodge in her underwear – so it'd be good if we could call on depart."

Wendy, who had followed him, punched his arm lightly.

\- "Show some compassion", she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Scorpius was about to add a sarcastic remark, when a butterfly brushed his cheek. He doubled over in pain, clutching his left arm.

\- "What's wrong?" Wendy immediately worried.

\- "There's something odd with these butterflies", Christopher grunted.

Albus picked one on the tip of his fingers.

\- "Why would you think so?" he asked softly.

The graceful insect touched his nose, leaving some golden dust on his skin, then flew away.

Scorpius smiled, forgetting the burning in his arm, and Wendy lightly kissed her fiancé's cheek.

Terrence turned away and Cadwallader felt ridiculous.

 _The butterflies certainly had no connection with the word carved on their skin. It had to be his imagination…_

Matilda joined them in the cave.

\- "Shall we go?" she asked, looking a little panicked.

Christopher forced a smile.

\- "Yes", he replied. "The cave looks safe."

It must have been already late in the day, for they were all tired and annoyed by Vivienne's complaints. She did look pathetic though. Her beautiful ponytail had turned into a mope of flaming ringlets, she was shivering despite the heat spell she cast repeatedly and her makeup had melted disastrously. Calcifer, who had reappeared as soon as they were a safe distance from the forest, pretended he was going to help her warm up and only managed to make her hair frizz even more. A burning smell filled the underground gallery and all of Günter's diplomacy was needed to calm down the wrath of the astronomer.

Pepper, who was hungry, recited recipes that made their mouths water. Wendy whistled a silly song and everybody sang in chorus. Pumpkin was rattling merrily behind them. Their progression was not very difficult. They were going around the natural stone basins and admired the stalagmites lace as they passed by, but they were eager to get back to a livelier part – or at least more _unexpected_ part – of the Axis.

And that was exactly what happened when they finally came out of the cave.

In front of them, under bright blue skies, stretched out a plain covered with tall yellow flowers over which were buzzing thousands of incandescent butterflies.

Matilda immediately understood the danger and hurriedly performed a bubble head charm.

\- "Wa-atch out! Do not b-b-breathe the p-p-pollen!" she squealed.

But it was too late. The others were already stepping in the golden field, with their eyes clouded and their hands touching the saffron pistils as if they were lost in a dream.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: "The Undecided finally lays down his Burden"_**

* * *

 ** _Please let me know who's your favorite character or what you think the challenges will be like. One is coming up ahead – guess who will have to make a choice!_**

 ** _I hope you enjoy the adventure so far. I'd love to read about your feelings or wishes for this story. Not that it's going to change anyone's fate, but… well. I absolutely love it when you tell me where you think we're heading or when you rant about the characters!_**

 ** _Thanks again for coming onboard!_**


	18. Burden

**THE UNDECIDED FINALLY LAYS DOWN HIS BURDEN**

* * *

Albus Potter was a loser.

Cadwallader had known he was since the time he had watched his skinny face light up under the sorting hat.

 _Albus Potter was a loser._

Cadwallader knew he was because even though he was always buried in a book like a proper Ravenclaw, he knew very well that you were only _cool_ if you were in Gryffindor and called _James_ Potter.

Albus Potter was a loser, but he did not behave as such, which annoyed Christopher deeply.

The world was simple, divided between the strong and the weak, those who knew what they wanted and those who never got what they wanted. Christopher knew that he was neither.

Mediocre, mundane, neither hated nor loved – nobody was interested in him. Most of the time he was okay with that: he was the third son, he was neither brilliant nor insufferable, but then it meant people left him in peace and did not expect much from him.

It was much better than being called Scorpius Malfoy and being bullied by obnoxious Seventh years.

It was a thousand times better than the pressure weighing on the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and on the top of the class in Ravenclaw.

But it was not as good as being the handsome and famous James Potter, than knowing how to speak in public, how to make jokes at the expense of others and to get away without consequences, to be on the receiving end of the enamored stares of Helga MacMillan who was in fourth year in Hufflepuff.

Christopher Cadwallader found that being thirteen was the worst: 1) He had pimples. 2) In the morning, he often woke up bathed in sweat and in a very embarrassing situation. 3) His voice was changing, squeaking at unexpected and embarrassing times. 4) His arms and legs were growing without any logic.

 _And for the first time in his life, his beloved books seemed bland in comparison of the delights the others were experiencing._

 _Like kissing the strawberry-shaped lips of Helga Macmillan._

 _Like being surrounded by a group of friends who would listen to you, laughing loudly at your hilarious comments._

 _Like soaring to the skies and flying over the Quidditch pitch in a thunder of applause._

 _Like knowing_ who _he was. What he wanted. What he could become. What he would be able to accomplish._

Even though Christopher Cadwallader kept shutting tight his eyes behind the drawn curtains of his four-poster bed and praying Merlin, the _Encyclopedia of Minerals_ and God if he existed, he still failed at turning into a hero.

Nobody was coming to take him out of a cupboard under the stairs and to tell him he was to become the savior of the world.

No spider was biting him and changing his scrawny chest into Herculean pectorals and switching his magic "good, yet could do better" for superpowers.

He was the third son of a post office worker who had done his schooling in Hufflepuff and married a young Muggle nurse.

He was not even bad enough to roast worms on the barbecue with his big brothers.

He would neither become Voldemort nor Dracula.

In fact, he was vaguely scared of darkness and hated the sight of blood.

No, Christopher Cadwallader was a loser, all in all.

So when he had turned his head, pulled out of his gloomy thoughts by Mrs McGonagall's voice calling _POTTER, Albus Severus_ , and had seen the thin face of this kid, curled up under the sorting hat, he had thought: "hey, that's another loser."

James was sniggering among his pals, like Christopher's two brothers had done when he had arrived at Hogwarts.

Weeks and months had passed, and then he found himself in fifth year. There was gossip about the second Potter but it was _not_ what he had expected.

Yes, Albus was not like his big brother. He was shy and almost invisible, but people could not stop talking about him.

\- "He lent me his book when I forgot mine", was saying a Ravenclaw student, relieved to have been able to do his homework on time.

\- "His ferret is so cute!" were simpering two girls. "They say all creatures fall to his charm!"

\- "I heard Malfoy and Al Potter became friends. Can you believe it?"

\- "I find him much friendlier than his brother."

\- "Oh, we're against Gryffindor today. Cool. Albus Potter's a fair player."

Christopher Cadwallader could not figure out how one could become so popular from simply being _nice_.

 _It was not fair._

Albus was _nothing_ special. Some claimed he would someday make an outstanding seeker, but when you looked at those who had preceded him, particularly his father who had become the Gryffindor's seeker during his first year at Hogwarts, it was not _enough_ to make anyone special.

Albus should have been anonymous. He should have been overcome by the same feeling Christopher had: he was not bullied like Scorpius Malfoy, but he was not worshiped like James. He was in between. He was no one, he was zero, he was _not_ interesting.

Yet Albus Potter brazenly kept living happily. He had a small group of friends, always the same ones and not all losers: this girl who was wild with a bat was rather pretty and the bespectacled boy who almost blew up the castle everyday had the reputation of being the smartest student of Hogwarts.

The ferret died – _who cared about that, anyway?_ \- but Albus did not try jumping from the top of the Astronomy Tower. He really had no sense of tragedy – or maybe he had good friends.

When Christopher's pet rat had died, the Ravenclaw prefect had told him to quickly get rid of the corpse and the one of his brothers who was still at Hogwarts had made a skit out the gruesome discovery of Scouter, his incisors frozen in a frightful grin, lying stiff on the sofa in the common room. Despite the fact he was fifteen, Christopher had burst into tears: the old rat had been there for him since his first year at Hogwarts.

 _It was not fair._

Mr. Cadwallader realized that his youngest was particularly gloomy, the following summer, and tried to speak with him. It was a total failure. Christopher did not want to feel understood by a man whose greatest talent was to perfectly roll a scroll and tie it at an owl's leg.

He had started doing push-ups and could jog for a good thirty minutes without falter. He was planning on enrolling in the Quidditch team and hoped this would leave him enough time to classify his minerals: Neville Longbottom was a little odd, but he seemed to be the only teacher to take seriously Christopher's passion for stones.

His brothers had finally completed their studies and no longer living in their shadow would _change_ everything. It had to.

He had his hair cut and boarded the train with the confident feeling he was finally at the dawn of a new era: _ah, to be sixteen and to own the entire world..._

Except he had no friends because he spent his time reading or collecting pebbles and people got more easily aware of the presence of a beetle in the class than of his own.

 _"Student not really involved. Only does what's strictly necessary."_

 _"Works well, but could do better if he was giving it a shot."_

 _"Mr. Cadwallader has about as much personality as a flobberworm."_

His school report cards were death sentences. What did he have to do to become a _real_ person? He had not been accepted into the Quidditch team, which was a burning failure: even the milksop that was his father had been able to play as a Chaser for Hufflepuff.

He desperately wanted to accomplish something, to prove he was there, to become interesting... but he could not even choose a career path. He still did not know what he wanted to be, he could not picture himself a grown-up.

James Potter had broken up with Helga Macmillan. Her parents had divorced and she had taken it very badly: she had taken at least fifteen pounds bigger over the summer. Her circle of friends on the opposite had seriously lost weight. Christopher did not find her attractive anymore and felt vaguely guilty about it, but not enough to try defending the poor girl when her old "friends" made fun of her.

Then there was a scandal in DADA course in fourth year and Harry Potter himself came to teach at the school of witchcraft and wizardry for a week. Then Albus Potter and his closest friends disappeared along with the man who was said to become the next Prime Minister.

When Terrence, Wendy and Scorpius came back, they were very different.

 _Older, more serious, more realist._

People talked about them, but no one dared to ask them anything.

Hogwarts' gossip soon spread that Albus had gone to war in the Hebrides and had lost a leg.

Christopher gritted his teeth.

You _had_ to be called Potter to _not_ do anything special and end up on the front page of the newspapers overnight.

 _It was not fair._

His stomach was aching. After using the toilet, staring darkly at his face in the mirror, he washed his hands, whistling mournfully: "Forget Potter the wimp, meet Potter the limp..." then broke into a grating laughter that almost scared him. But at that time, another boy came out of a cubicle, looking absolutely delighted.

\- "Mate, that one was _so_ good!" he smirked, pulling up his fly.

And he went off singing jubilantly.

Within an hour, the rhyme had toured the castle and found more supporters than one could have imagined.

Bewildered, Christopher heard people say he was the brilliant composer of the new popular mantra and felt somehow proud.

 _Perhaps, after all, he had the makings of a real villain..._

Albus Potter came back to school in early June. He was limping slightly and was not allowed to play Quidditch before the end of the year. James had become oddly protective of his younger brother.

Everyone wanted to see the prosthesis, but Albus refused to make a show of his injury. His friends did not want to tell anyone about what they had experienced during the weeks they had been gone from school. Christopher wished they would have rather gotten over their heads with it and behaved like arrogant baboons: it would have been easier to hate them and to keep on with the cruel ditty.

But then he realized that Albus, again, was escaping the rule. He was trying to disappear when he could have enjoyed his popularity. He seemed to have no other purpose than to live his school years as ordinarily as... _anyone else_.

He did not want to be special when he had the perfect opportunity. He was not drinking in the hero's cult, like any other boy would have.

 _He was not weak._

 _From the beginning, this scrawny kid had not been a loser._

The sour rancor that was poisoning Christopher Cadwallader's heart turned then into deep disgust.

 _If it had been him..._

Everything became easier. The next year, he added new verses to the stupid song. He suggested making holes in the gutters after hearing James complaining that the Scottish humidity was painful to his brother. He was going to find a crack in Albus' beautiful armor.

But he failed.

Gryffindor, with a crippled seeker, won the Quidditch Cup. Christopher had a rash.  
Albus was going out with Wendy Philips, who had become very pretty – though was still dangerous with a bat.

He had everything.

He was remaining true to himself.

 _It was unfair._

 _Unfair, unfair, unfair._

Christopher graduated along with James. His parents were at the ceremony and seemed proud of him, but he could only stare at Harry Potter who was congratulated his eldest son, one arm resting on the shoulders of his laughing younger son.

Christopher's brothers invited him to a pub and had him drink too much. He began his first day in the grown-up world with a terrible hangover and a sad comment of his father: "I thought _you_ 'd be different..."

He still did not know what he would do with his life and he was sure his parents would make themselves sick if their son from _Ravenclaw_ found himself handing out flyers on _Diagon Alley_.

Then Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood payed him a visit.

His former house head babbled about a Blibbering Humdinger and special talents, and the _Herbology_ teacher handed him a magazine about geology.

\- "Maybe you could do an internship in that field", he suggested. "I'm sure you'd like it."

Christopher's throat was clogged and he found nothing to answer.

He followed the advice.

He discovered that studying minerals in the company of people who were also passionate about stones was a thousand times more exciting than rummaging on his own under the supervision of an intrigued Bert Hammersmith. He was happy, even if he still wondered what was the ultimate goal of his life.

He became a geologist and when he was invited to go to Antarctica, he agreed.

 _It was the chance of a lifetime._

When he set foot in _Inlandsis Station_ , it was an icy shock to discover that the four inseparable of Hogwarts also worked there.

 _It was like being cursed._

But just a few days after his arrival, he had to go out exploring with Albus. They were surprised by a blizzard and found shelter in _Whale_ C _arcass_ , where _they_ remained stuck for two days. When they were brought back to the Tower, Albus could barely walk, his teeth clenched in pain. Christopher, who also had frostbitten hands and toes, found himself with him in the sickbay and saw the crippled leg for the first time.

And for the first time also, he saw Albus crying.

He realized his old enemy was human, fallible - not unlike himself.

Then something changed.

Maybe it was the frustration he had read in the eyes of the young man. Perhaps the friendly way Albus addressed him since his arrival - the other three did not hide their animosity. Or maybe just the fact that, while they had been stuck in the cave, Potter had not stopped looking for animal tracks and signs that the Axis would opened.

In a sense, when they were immersed in their specialties, they were very similar.

After that, Christopher decided he did not need to be _friendly_ , but it was not necessary to restart hostilities.

 _The man who would find the Axis would be the real hero. That would be enough._

Then everything went wrong.

The word "renounce" appeared, etched under his foot; Calcifer gave them a terrifying prophecy; strange phenomena occurred; he dreamt of things and people he did not know; Albus became seriously ill and that it turned out that he was sharing his soul with a dragon; the stars fell and finally the gates opened.

It was not a competition. It was more like a survival game in which they were trapped.

Gravity and their priorities were turned upside down, some bonds grew stronger and others were formed.

Christopher stopped fearing Calcifer. He realized he was getting along rather well with Terrence Swanson. He discovered he had been seeing Günter like a father figure for some time: probably the team leader's hufflepuff vibe was in it for something. He stopped flirting with the beautiful Vivienne to genuinely treat her like a comrade and began to feel some pity for Wendy and Euphrosine. Scorpius and Pepper remained mysteries to him.

But he only understood Albus' secret when he lost all sense of reality and sank into a bright white dream, surrounded thousands of golden butterflies.

He saw the future as it should have been written. He saw his brothers admire him, he felt what it was like to have a purpose and walked in the footsteps of the man he wished he could have been. He touched what he could become with such potential - if he stayed here, if he abandoned himself to this reality so much better than the other.

Then he knew.

That it was wrong, but that he had the choice of accepting or ignoring it.

 _Renounce._

He had asked himself dozens of times what the word meant.

 _To give up on the expedition? To lay down their lives: did that mean they were all going to die down in the Axis? To deny principles, or their names, or something they loved?_

There were so many possibilities. But suddenly, in this unreal clarity where all his memories were floating like soap bubbles amidst colored glass pieces in which shimmered a wonderful future, the answer became obvious to him.

All his life he had tried to be someone else.

All his life, he had tried to be different.

All his life he had refused to accept himself – the way he was. Neither a loser nor a cool guy.

 _Just himself._

Bluntly himself. Himself, dull, plain, fond of pebbles. Him, who had no special fate, who would never be a hero nor a villain.

Him, the son of a post office worker and a Muggle nurse, a former Ravenclaw student, a geologist sent to Antarctica.

 _Him, Christopher Cadwallader._

 _But he was not so bad._

So he decided he would start living without waiting for a sign of destiny - he would move forward.

 _Living was an achievement in itself._

He smiled to himself.

He was floating in nothingness, naked, and it felt like if a huge weight had been removed from his chest.

He felt oddly light - oddly happy.

A butterfly with wings of fire landed on his toe and something glinted under his foot, but it did not hurt.

Then everything went black.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Someone was calling him.

Christopher tried to open his eyes and a terrible migraine clawed his brain, like if a particularly vicious spider was drilling in his temples.

\- "Ah, he's coming back to his senses, I think", someone said.

\- "Took him a long time", added another voice, which he identified as Pepper's.

He cracked open an eyelid, first recognized the bunk above his ( _someone had carved underneath the alchemical symbols of the seven elements recognized by sorcerers: air, water, earth, fire, space, time and magic_ ) and then saw a concerned face leaning over him.

\- "How are you feeling?" Günter asked.

Christopher tried to speak, but his throat was terribly dry and he could only whimper pathetically.

\- "Terrence, he's awake!" called the team leader, turning to the room.

\- "Give him a drink", replied the distant voice of the healer.

Cadwallader groaned approvingly. The water in the cup Günter cautiously brought to his lips was deliciously fresh. It tasted a bit ferruginous and he wondered if the crimson light that streamed in the Pumpkin through the open door was from a cave with walls of red hematite.

\- "Where am I?" he managed to croak at last.

He felt terribly weak.

The team leader patted his arm with kindness. His eyes were twinkling mischievously behind his glasses.

\- "The question is: _where have you been_?" he replied cryptically.

Christopher thought for a moment, despite his headache.

\- "I _was dreaming_... I think", he finally muttered. "Of when I was a kid... and of the future too... of what it could have been if... if I had been... _someone else_..."

Günter smiled.

\- "And so?"

The young man closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His face relaxed a bit.

 _The feeling of lightness, of relief, of freedom, was still there._

He smiled back.

\- "So there. I'm who I am and I'm here", he said simply.

The old man nodded.

\- "Well done", he whispered.

Next to him, the house elf was watching the geologist with a strange look.

Terrence climbed into the pumpkin and came to them, wiping his hands on a handkerchief that he then stuffed in a pocket of his white lab coat.

\- "How's it going in here?" he asked.

He quickly checked on Christopher, then straightened up, looking satisfied.

\- "In fine fettle! Well, at least he'll be when he'll have some food in him. Pepper, my friend, off to the Galley!"

\- "Free Elves _choose_ their friends", retorted the old servant majestically - but he went towards the kitchen.

Terrence carelessly waved his wand and a chair came waddling to him, followed by Matilda and Vivienne who looked delighted to learn Christopher was better.

\- "What happened?" asked the geologist in a slightly hoarse voice.

\- "The flowers the butterflies guided us to", Terrence explained, sitting down comfortably. "Matilda immediately saw the danger. She shook us awake one after the other and forced us out of the trance caused by those... er... nougatines?"

\- " _Obliviatines_ ", corrected the young biologist. "Some s-scientists who d-d-did not protect themselves p-properly lost all g-grip on r-reality while studying t-them."

\- "Anyway. But for you, t'was too late, you were already too far in the dream. We had to carry you out of the field and wait for you to come back _by yourself_."

\- "Your eyes had rolled back, it was scary", Vivienne shivered.

Christopher painfully propped up on an elbow. His blood was beating furiously in his head.

\- "How long was I… out?"

\- "Don't try to get up yet. You fainted for fourteen hours", Terrence replied smugly. "We wanted to leave you there and continue the exploration, but Günter never agreed."

\- "It was out of question", quietly said the team leader.

\- "Did everybody dream?"

The others nodded, looking away, and Christopher figured their experiences must have not ended as peacefully as his. He suddenly remembered the glint under his foot and suddenly sat up to see if the word was still carved on his skin.

The Pumpkin lurched and he felt like if his eyes were falling back in his head. Stars danced in the dark and he felt someone grabbing him and leaning him back on the pillows carefully.

His vision returned and with it a violent nausea.

\- "Feeling better?" Terrence sneered, when the geologist was done retching. "I told you not to try to get up."

Christopher moaned, slumped on the bunk.

\- "I wanted to see if... the word... was still there", he slurred.

The healer raised an eyebrow, then he paled as he understood what his patient meant.

\- "You mean... it was some sort of a test? Then…"

He feverishly removed Christopher's sock to check his foot. When he looked up, his face was ashen.

\- "It's gone", he breathed.

Like in a dream, he touched his own neck, winced like if he had brushed a scab and slouched on the carpet.

Vivienne's eyes had widened without really understanding, but Günter looked deadly serious. Matilda suddenly let out a muffled cry and covered her mouth with her hands.

\- "Then you m-mean I-I-I woke you up t-t-too early... you m-mean you could have b-been...f-f- _freed_ " she squealed.

\- "It wouldn't have worked for Albus, anyway", slowly said Terrence. "And I doubt Scorpius would have come out of it unharmed."

His face was gray and he looked like he was ten years older. He forced himself to swallow, then raised his head to look at Christopher.

\- "I guess it was your big moment", he muttered.

A heavy silence fell in the room.

\- "Ahoy!" a voice called from outside. "We could do with a helping hand if Sleeping Beauty is feeling better!"

Günter blinked. He stood up and gently pushed the women towards the door.

\- "Come, let's go help Wendy."

Terrence and Christopher remained alone, not daring to look at each other.

\- "What are they doing?" asked the patient.

The healer looked like he was waking up from a trance.

\- "Oh, they are trying to fish moons birds."

The geologist raised an eyebrow.

\- "I beg your pardon?"

Terrence had a tired smile.

\- "You'll see just now. The cave where we landed after the _Savoirs'_ field is... um. Interesting."

He wiped his clammy hands on his knees and stood up.

\- "Well, I need to go too. I have to take care of Al. Try to rest. I don't think you can hit the road before tomorrow in your condition. Don't let Pepper feed you pickles, it's not good for your health, whatever he says."

Christopher grabbed the young blond man's arm.

\- "What happened to Albus and Scorpius? Are they are still unconscious?"

Terrence bit his lip, then heaved out a sigh.

\- "Scorpius was pretty shaken, but he'll be okay. Al was not _affected_ by the butterflies, but... he changed back into a dragon. And I'm not a veterinarian. _He_ is the expert in Care of Magical Creatures!"

He walked towards the door flooded by the glowing sun, then turned back.

\- "Chris?"

\- "Yeah?"

Terrence scratched his head, then thrust his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat and shrugged.

\- "Nothing", he said finally. "Have some sleep."

The geologist cautiously lay back and closed his eyes when he was alone. He was savoring the feeling of lightness in his chest when he felt the first salty burn in the corner of his eye.

 _Renounce._

 _Everything would be different now._

A small hand touched his shoulder and he opened his eyes.

\- "Don't cry", said the house elf who was holding a jar from which came a strong smell of vinegar.

\- "I'm fine. These are tears of joy", giggled the geologist with a hiccup. "No thank you, Pepper. I'll pass on the pickles."

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: FLOATING MOUNTAINS_**


	19. Floating Mountains

**FLOATING MOUNTAINS**

* * *

Wendy bit into the apple.

\- "... and then, once we were all barricaded in the Pumpkin, I operated the fans to purify it from this hallucinogen pollen", she went on, chewing cheerfully. "Euphrosine said the blue sky was probably an illusion, a magic lid or something of the like. We hurried to the other side and there we fell again into a well with reversed gravity. Wooosh! We were sucked up and then we were ejected in here!"

Her enthusiastic arm gestures almost swatted Christopher's head. He carefully moved away a few centimeters on the edge of the cliff.

\- "Luckily I had the reflex to launch out the hook! It hung up on a mountain and we were able to drag up the Pumpkin onto the land - well, if you can call this _land_ ", she added after a moment's reflection. She stuffed the last quarter of her apple in her mouth and wiped her fingers on the cloth hanging from the front pocket of her overall. "T'was a good thing we were all inside the Pumpkin at that moment. I'd always wondered what the hook was for, but _now_ I understand – we were able to go from one floating island to the other. Wicked, isn't it?"

Christopher nodded. He looked for a moment at his legs dangling above the lavender mist, then looked up.

\- "Looks like we're going _up_ , he observed. "I thought we were trying to reach the _depths_ of the Axis."

Wendy laughed.

\- "Oh, but Günter would tell you that it is _our_ perception, but not necessarily the _reality_. We may well be upside down and actually going _down_."

Everything was possible, indeed. After all, where they were sailing at the moment again defied logic and imagination.

The Pumpkin had anchored its six legs on a purple mountain floating in vast red skies, where billions of stars were glowing with amethyst glints. Baobab and pine trees cut their strange dark figures on the horizon. Pink vines and lush wisteria cascaded in graceful clusters on the porous rock masses carried by the wind.

In the twilight atmosphere, the islets were moving slowly. They sometimes bumped softly against each other and a rain of small violet stones showered the burgundy corals that clung to the cliffs. The light breeze was filled with a sweet smell. A lilac steam rose from the waterfalls that poured endlessly into the sky and unknown constellations shimmered everywhere.

Vivienne was lying at the edge of a cliff, studying the stars through a huge round magnifying glass that looked like an instrument usually reserved for underwater viewing.

Calcifer, who was frolicking with a swarm of fireflies looked like a ribbon of light or a serpentine comet.

\- "It's beautiful", Christopher said with sincerity.

\- "That's not the best part", Wendy chuckled. "Watch carefully. Can you look at, for example, that tree – a ... what did Matilda say again? Ah yes, an African Acacia – can you see the crescent moon?"

The young man's eyes narrowed.

\- "Yeah. What with it?"

\- "It's _not_ a crescent moon", the girl said, getting up and brushing her overall to get rid of the purple dust stuck to it. "It's a _bird_. There _are_ creatures in the Axis! Creatures you won't find in the outside world!"

At her expression of delight, Christopher thought she was well matched with her fiancé and looked for him.

The dragon was curled up in a baobab and his spade-shaped tail was swinging like a panther's in an annoyed upside down question mark. He looked like he was sleeping, but, while as he was caring for the scratch on his arm, Terrence had warned them that it was _only_ an impression.

Apparently, Albus had no control over his twin soul anymore and Toothless was not always in a playful mood.

\- "He gobbled one, just a moment ago", said Wendy, who had followed the gaze of the geologist. "I guess he was hungry, but it would have been nice to be able to look at a specimen from closer."

Her resigned tone was almost comical if one considered how the situation was dramatic. Christopher whistled through his teeth, then stood up too.

\- "Well, let's catch one, then. That way, when he'll come back to his senses, Potter will be able to study it."

\- "Easier said than done, however", said Günter who had been standing behind them for a while, listening to their conversation. "As you can see, with the exception of its crescent-shaped beak, this bird is absolutely invisible. If Calcifer had not set one on fire by mistake, we probably wouldn't even know they're here."

\- "That's two birds dead since we arrived", Christopher grumbled. "I doubt our visit is very good for the Axis' ecology."

To his surprise, Wendy giggled.

\- "Let's go hunting", she said pulling out her wand.

The purple sky was giving a Byzantine gleam to her short brown hair and the stars were twinkling silver, deep in her eyes. Christopher noticed the small scar on her triangular chin and wondered if it was a mechanical accident or an injury from the Hebrides.

 _"Miss Philips, the impetuosity of yours will be your loss," was scolding a professor while the sixth years were watching scornfully a group of fourth year students covered with mud and twigs. Among them, there was a teenager with long matted curls and a black eye. Her school robes were the messier of them all, but she looked rather pleased with herself._

Christopher allowed himself a wry smile at the memory. _Was there really something that could frighten Wendy Philips? No, certainly not._ She had always charged forward to see through her ideals or to protect those she loved. It was only fair that she was part of this exploration.

He also drew his wand out of his pocket and turned to Günter who was waiting, his hands on his hips.

\- "Let's go hunting!" he chimed in cheerfully.

The Pumpkin was crouched in a patch of violet grass and a spiral of smoke was billowing from a pointed metal hat on top of a hose, gently rising to the stars.

They had finally succeed in coordinating their spells to trap in a magic net one of the moon birds - _and why so many things had to have a selenite name in the Axis where no lunar light could filter?_ \- when a noise like a helicopter whirring suddenly rose from behind one of the floating mountains.

Matilda, who was taking samples, hanging on a rope down a cliff, let out a shriek of terror.

Scorpius, who was writing his report, sitting on the doorstep of the pumpkin, stood up, gaping, dropping parchment and quill.

Pepper stopped monitoring the clothes that were hanging themselves on a thread stretched from a baobab tree to another and dived into the laundry basket.

Euphrosine dropped her cup, which remained suspended in the air, the lump of sugar pitching like an iceberg on the waves of tea, and found herself sitting on the floor in a heap of petticoats with Calcifer swirling of excitement around her.

The dragon's ears perked up and he turned his head, his tail still swaying under the branch.

\- "What-is-this- _thing_?" Terrence stammered, lowering his wand.

The invisible toucan in the magic net probably felt the trap weakening. It turned candy pink, struggled furiously to escape and flew away with an indignant caw, scattering behind a cloud of feathers.

Wide-eyed, Günter, Wendy and Christopher were frozen and did not notice their specimen doing a runner.

Behind one of the purple mountains floating quietly in the purple sky had just showed up a huge creature.

A giant _lizard_ if one was to look at the scales and the saurian head, the blue crest, the claws and the slimy muzzle from which gushed a prehensile tongue. A _dragonfly_ , if you looked at its big translucent wings spread in thin and delicate elytras with membranes of different sizes and its ringed abdomen which ended with a bud.

The whole creature was as big as a truck and was watching them with compound eyes.

\- "It's giving a glance at the menu", muttered Christopher.

\- "It's not. It's wondering whether to be afraid of us or not", Wendy whispered, tightening her clammy hand on her wand.

\- "It's beautiful", breathed Günter.

A flutter in the umbrella pine trees in a nearby island made them guess a flock of moon birds had flew off, but their camouflage was perfect: the beaks caught the amethyst hues of the stars and blended in the glowing immensity.

\- "Don't make a move", suddenly hissed Albus' voice.

Wendy stifled a cry of joy.

Her fiancé was sliding from his baobab to the crooked acacia in which the four hunters had climbed. Terrence watched his friend with a frown, worried he would fall, then held out his hand to help him to their branch.

\- "Sorry for the scratch", mumbled the young man when he was at their level. "We couldn't help it. It's like you're a fire butterfly when you touch Dewis."

\- "Oh", said the healer with a flash of understanding in his eyes. "Sorry, 'must have hurt."

He absently rubbed his nape.

\- "But in your human form, they don't affect you", Christopher noted quietly.

Albus looked up. There was a golden haze in his emerald eyes.

\- "No", he said. "Not anymore."

Günter said nothing.

\- "We wanted to catch a moon-bird for you to study. "But now we were wondering if you'd not rather get a shelled mosquito", Wendy whispered mischievously.

Albus chuckled.

\- "I'd love to bring back to the Institute a specimen of abysmal zygoptera, if I could find a big enough cage."

\- "We can do magic, remember?" giggled the girl. "We should be able to fix this."

\- "I'm not being funny, but _we_ 're about to be eaten", Christopher grunted.

But he was wrong. The huge dragonfly eyed them and whirred around the island for a while, but they were quick to note that it only used its prehensile tongue to suck the juice of wisteria and did not seemed equipped with the kind of teeth rack one would have expected to find in such a reptilian mouth. While their floating mountain crossed into interstellar space, other creatures like it showed up and they had plenty of time to study them.

Albus filled tons of pages with sketches of the gills the beast had on its cheeks. His annotations went from the flying system enabled by nodi similar to those of an odonate, to reviews on the intricate design of the scales: purple arabesques on turquoise for what he identified as males, yellow and red camouflage for the females.

Sitting on the edge of the cliff, he did not seem to see time fly and Terrence had to force him to take a break and eat a couple of sandwiches with a glass of milk. On the horizon, a big bright light had born and was growing bigger hour after hour, like a supernova.

A moon-bird landed near the magizoologist and hopped to him with curiosity. You could only know it was there because of the prints it left in the purple dust. Albus waited patiently, then reached out very slowly and touched the ivory crescent-shaped beak.

The toucan shuddered and its feathers turned a pink shade for a moment, then it flew away and disappeared. The young man smiled, then hurried to draw a sketch of the bird.

\- "Did you get everything you wanted?" asked Terrence, coming to sit next to the magizoologist.

The sun rising in front of them was bouncing on the glass of his spectacles.

\- "Not _everything_ ", Albus said. "But more than I expected."

He put down his quill.

\- "Sorry again for the scratch", he muttered. "I promise it was an accident."

The healer patted the bandage on his arm.

\- "That's what worries me", he said after a moment. "Look, you're better now. No fever, clear irises and you have some appetite. It doesn't make sense. You looked half dead two days ago. I wonder there's a price for this... When you transfigured, lately, Dewis had full control, isn't it?"

Albus turned his eyes away.

\- "Not Dewis", he breathed. " _Toothless_. I mean... it wasn't like when I know what's going on and I can hear Dewis' voice but not act on my own. We weren't fighting either... it was... it was like we were _both_ sleeping and only a _dragon_ was in control. A wild beast, Terrence. Not a metamorphosed human or Dewis' ancient memory in this form, but... just an animal."

\- "That's why he ate the bird", slowly said Terrence. "Because that's what cats do."

Albus had a weak smile.

\- " _Very big_ cats."

His friend put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

\- "We'll find a way", he said. "I _know_ all the answers are in the Axis."

There was an unshakeable certainty in his voice, but his friend only understood why that evening, when the team gathered around Calcifer to roast marshmallows on his back, and began to evoke the experience of the _Savoirs_ ' field.

Günter was the first to tell them he had seen his son studying with him in Antarctica. His humble voice encouraged the others and they opened one after the other, staring at the embers that crackled gently, flying to the stars.

\- "I dreamed Nero had given up chasing after Moby Dick and that we were living in a house on stilts on the Volcano island ", Vivienne sighed when Christopher was done speaking.

No one understood who or what she was talking about, but everyone felt her sadness seep in the moment.

\- "I dreamed we had kids... " she added almost inaudibly, lowering her eyes under her thick crimson bangs.

Matilda put her arm around the astronomer's shoulders and said nothing. Wendy looked for Albus' hand in the dark. He squeezed it softly.

\- "I was in a gigantic library", Terrence explained with excitement. "There were _trillions_ of books on every conceivable subject. It was so big you had to take a glass elevator to go from one section to another! It was like a whole _planet_ covered with books and you only needed to _think_ of a topic to know where you'd find everything that had been written about it. "

His blue eyes were sparkling behind his glasses. He pushed behind his ear a lock of blond hair and continued. His voice was vibrating with excitement.

\- "I'm pretty sure there's a part of reality in this illusion. It was very tangible and I wonder to what extent it could have been _true_. There was no one alive there, but you could invoke the authors and talk with them and ask them to develop a particular paragraph and it was so - _interesting_!"

The words were rushing so fast out of his mouth that he was almost stammering.

\- "It m-must have b-been horrible if you were a-all _alone_ ", Matilda said with a shudder.

Terrence stared at her in amazement.

\- "Oh", he gasped. "I never thought of it that way."

He shrugged to dispel the idea and resumed his story with enthusiasm.

\- "The most important thing was that all the world's knowledge, past experiences, future discoveries, accurate analysis and researches... everything was _within easy reach_!"

He suddenly darkened.

\- "Well, at least until you pulled me out of there when you shook me awake", he concluded.

The others stayed silent for a while.

\- "Do you regret not staying there?" finally asked Christopher.

Terrence chewed the inside of his cheek. He cast a quick glance towards Wendy who was watching him anxiously and avoided the fiery glare of Calcifer, then snorted carelessly.

\- "Bah. We still have tons of things to discover here, so... it's okay."

Euphrosine was staring at the flames, looking terribly sad.

\- "Jen had said that, too..." she breathed.

There was another moment of silence, then Günter cleared his throat and turned to Scorpius who was lost in thought.

\- "What about you, Malfoy? What did you dream of?"

The blond man jumped. A flash – of anger, or perhaps of shame - gleamed in his stormy gray eyes.

\- "I don't suppose I _have_ _to_ tell you", he snarled.

The team leader had a movement of surprise.

\- "Er... no, of course, no. Nobody has to share his experience. I just thought... that this could bring some light to our understanding of the Axis."

\- "I doubt so", Scorpius hissed.

He got up and left the circle without a word, looking irate.

\- "He does not like people picking at his dirty laundry", Pepper said sententiously. "House elves do not like that either."

\- "What you do not like is people _giving_ you laundry", quipped Vivienne.

Everyone laughed, even if a bit awkwardly.

\- "I dreamed I was aboard the _Hogwarts Express_ ", Wendy said. "It was like when I was eleven, but there were some differences. For example..."

\- "Oy. The subject has been closed", protested Calcifer, his flames suddenly roaring, reducing Christopher's marshmallow to the state of sticky ash. "Can't we not talk of giving a bacon rind to the invisible birds? I'm sure they're carnivores."

\- "I think we'll should talk about _sylvan spirits_ ", the geologist scoffed.

The others laughed, except for Albus. He was looking at the pumpkin and was wondering what had brought on Scorpius' face an expression he had not seen since their years at Hogwarts.

Around them, the purple sky was paling at the bright sunlight on the horizon and the floating mountains were lined with gold. In the incandescent vapor rising above the burgundy waterfalls, the dragonfly-lizards were flying and their wings were shimmering like pearls.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

The next day they woke up on a rocky plateau. The starry red night was gone and they were above an immense flat plain, under a milky white sky. They had to rope up again and once down, they realized it was very hot and dry small particles were swirling up from the ground, as if it was snowing sand upwards. They performed a bubble head charm again, even though it made you dizzyingly sweaty, because a cloth tied on your nose couldn't keep at bay the dust.

They could not see the sun, but they could feel its oppressive presence. They walked all day and saw some creatures in a heat haze: leaping antelopes and strange monkeys painted like warriors with drooping bellies who were dragging their too long arms on the ground. Wendy was complaining of the sand incrusting in the wheels of her machine and making it screech painfully. Matilda unearthed a red flower and almost got her hand snatched by its surly pistils. Vivienne kept searching unsuccessfully why the astrolabe was working in the Axis. She assured them that the stars they had seen the previous days were not actual stars, but she could not explain why.

The night fell abruptly, as if someone had pressed a switch. Calcifer was dancing like a bright blue flame in the dark and for a moment they thought the sand would stop flying up. But then they began to shiver as an icy breeze ran along the ground, and suddenly snow crystals started to rise towards the sky in a slow dance.

Scorpius and Terrence were convinced they were walking "on the ceiling of a giant cave," but Christopher asserted it was a mineralogical phenomenon.

The dragon, who had trotted obediently all day long next to Euphrosine, scampered off in the darkness suddenly and came back an hour later with bloodied lips, a haunch squeezed in between his fangs.

\- "Some kind of ostrich, judging from this ergot", Günter identified when he was able to get the bone scraped to the core. "But, of course, it'd be better if our expert in magic creatures could simply study them, instead of devouring them."

The Pumpkin, illuminated from the inside, was drawing a benevolent halo in the obstinately dark plain. Pepper made pancakes and they felt like if they were back in the Observation Tower – until the next morning when the heat overwhelmed them again.

After the plain, they found themselves on top of another valley and this one was full of greenery, trees and flowering bushes. Thin scarves of clouds were sailing in the blue sky and pterodactyls were flying, shrieking, above the hills.

\- "I don't get it", Christopher grumbled, running a hand through his hair. "What _is_ the Axis, in the end? A reserve of Nature? A stunt of science? When do we get to the source of the magic or the secret of the origin of life?"

\- "I'm beginning to think that we did not understand a thing in the old scriptures", Vivienne mumbled.

Terrence said nothing. His telescope had set on something and his breath had caught in his throat.

\- "Traces of civilization", he whispered when he finally managed to speak.

Günter rushed to the telescope and adjusted it to his eye, his hands trembling.

In the magnifying glass was standing a tall tower in ruins. It was surrounded by collapsed walls, gilded by the light, and seemed as old as the world.

\- "Agartha", stammered the old man. "So it was true... _people_ were living in the secret land..."

His arms fell down along his body and he turned to the others, a smile lighting his face weathered by their long march in the desert.

All humans, including Euphrosine seemed in shock. But the dragon was sniffing up the wind.

He bared his fangs and growled.

\- "I know, right", said Calcifer hoarsely, staring hard at the ruins erect in the heart of the green plain.

Pepper squinted, his hand over his bushy eyebrows.

For that far they could not see it – only _feel_ it – but a shadow had moved at the foot of the tower and glowing red eyes had looked at them for a second.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: THE REAPERS OF STARS_**

* * *

 ** _Brace yourself, for next chapter is really spooky..._**

 ** _Thank you for the reviews! I just love hearing from you! I won't spoil anything but for the person who mentioned it, here comes the order of the tests: first Christopher as you already know, then Euphrosine, then Terrence, then Albus, and finally Scorpius. We're not yet there, as there are 28 chapters to this story._**

 ** _Here comes a DISCLAIMER that I'm not quite sure I already posted... anyway, there you go._**

* * *

 **You may find, as you read, bits and pieces from the following works (which don't belong to me but that I adore):  
**

 ** _Books_** ** _: Journey to the Center of the Earth_** **, _20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Airborn, Starclimber, Howl's Moving Castle, Stardust, Percy Jackson, Reckless._**

 ** _Films_** ** _:_** ** _Hoshi o Ou Kodomo, Atlantis, Patema Inverted, Anastasia, Mononoke-Hime, Titan A.E., Alice in Wonderlands, Spirited Away, Avatar, Upside Down, Peter Pan, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Eragon, Narnia, HTTYD 1 & 2, Spiderwick Chronicles, Fantasia 2000, My Neighbour Totoro, The Little Prince, Cowboy Beebop._**

 ** _Series_** ** _: Doctor Who, Stargate SG-1, Mushi-shi, Natsume Yujinchou, Nankyoku Tairiku, A Very Potter Musical._**

 ** _And then_** ** _: obviously '_** **Harry Potter' _(books and movies verse) but also fanfic readers suggestions and my brother's genius ideas!  
_**


	20. The Reapers of Stars

**THE REAPERS OF STARS**

* * *

The ruins were strangely silent. There were no insects, no rodents. The dust itself seemed motionless, suspended in brilliant particles in the sunbeams. Dead leaves were piled in a corner of the walls. The granular stones crumbled when touched, leaving a yellowish powder deposit on your skin.

\- "Is it me or does it _stink_?" Wendy asked, wrinkling her nose.

They inhaled, mimicking the dragon who kept sniffing around, wagging his tail furiously.

\- "Looks like someone forgot a pot on the stove", mumbled Euphrosine.

\- "It smells like rancid peanut", Christopher groaned.

\- "Feels like being in my great-grandmother's living-room", Terrence muttered thoughtfully.

\- "It reeks of stale water", complained Vivienne.

\- "I reckon it's the smell of rotten flesh", Günter said. "There has to be a dead creature somewhere around."

\- "Could be moss in decomposition or _Titan Arum_ in full blooming", Matilda suggested, examining the surroundings curiously.

\- "Charming", Scorpius concluded wryly.

Calcifer was literally fuming.

\- "We should _not_ be here", he repeated for the umpteenth time since the group had started heading for the tower. "It's not good - not good at all. This is a _bad_ place."

Pepper tugged at the team leader's sleeve. His big bushy eyebrows were knotted in a gray bush over his hooked nose.

\- "The camp should be set somewhere far away from here", he said in a slightly high pitched voice.

Günter was pondering on that when Wendy, who was still looking for the putrid smell's origin, uttered an exclamation.

\- "You _have_ to see that!"

They all went round a collapsed wall. The Pumpkin, Calcifer, Pepper and the dragon stayed behind, left alone in what appeared to be an old courtyard. A few patches of yellow grass were gnawing at the tiles. The sun was high above their heads, dazzling, and there was not the slightest shadow.

\- "It will end in a bad way", said Pepper.

\- "Humans..." Calcifer huffed. "All the same."

The dragon, his iris reduced to slits, remained on alert, a low rumbling rising in his throat.

On the other side of the wall, the explorers were staring, speechless, at a long mural, faded by time. Landscapes of surprising beauty, graceful silhouettes and extraordinary creatures were frozen there in a maze of delicate pigmentation of purple, green and red.

\- "Incredible", Günter gasped. "It was beautifully preserved... it's a chronology... and all these runes in the bas-relief... we'll finally be able to understand what the Axis is..."

\- "I'll get the Pumpkin", Wendy said. "It'll take hours to copy everything."

\- " _Too bad_ we didn't bring the camera", Scorpius scolded between high and low.

Christopher shot him an amused glance.

\- "I'll try to find what stinks like that. Vivienne, could you spray some perfume in the meantime? Just that we can breathe better."

The team leader jumped.

\- "Surely not ! You'll spoil this precious relic with your modern gas! You better go study the material used to build this tower instead of fooling around. We might be able to date the presence of people inside the Axis."

\- "D'you b-believe they c-could still b-be here?" Matilda stammered, shivering at the sudden idea.

\- "I doubt so", said Terrence who was at the end of the wall, bewitching his glasses into shades. "If I understand this well, they're all dead."

There was no need to be an expert to interpret the final drawing of the mural: a multitude of twisted black bodies falling into a red abyss under the condemning glare of the sun.

\- "Euphrosine?"

Vivienne stepped toward the witch who was frozen, her eyes wide and her hands joined on her chest.

\- "You okay? You're very pale."

Terrence hastened in their direction, fumbling in the pocket of his white coat.

\- "Make her sit down", he commanded. "Can someone get me a glass of water? Euphrosine, breathe in the bottle. There... that's good."

He crouched in front of the old woman, taking her hands in his and rubbing them.

\- "Feeling better? What happened?"

Except for Günter who was again lost in contemplation of the mural, the others crowded around them, concerned about the pain creasing the wrinkled face of their teammate.

\- "It was _written_ ", stuttered Euphrosine. "It was written... if only... if only he had seen it before..."

Her voice broke. She was trembling and she suddenly started to sob. The healer hesitated, then hugged her gently, patting her back.

\- "I'll get the Pumpkin", whispered Wendy, briefly squeezing the shoulder of Terrence who nodded silently.

The dazzling sun was still high above them. They should have been hot, but they were not. Around the ruins, the unnerving silence was only disturbed by the distant screeching of the pterodactyls.

Christopher and Vivienne went off to explore and came back after a few hours, saying they had seen other dinosaurs.

\- "But they were odd", explained the geologist with a furtive glance towards the dragon who was washing himself thoroughly, perched in a tree. "Their skin was beige, almost transparent. You could see their skeleton through."

\- "How's Euphrosine?" inquired the astronomer.

\- "She's asleep", said Wendy, who was sitting among her tools, busy dusting carefully all remaining sand stuck in the wheels of the Pumpkin. "Terrence has forbidden bothering her with questions. If you're free, go help the others with the mural. Günter is completely obsessed with it, but Pepper has threatened to go on strike if we don't move out quickly."

\- "What's with him?" Christopher said, arching an eyebrow. "He better not stop cooking, no one here could replace him."

\- "He rants that misfortune will come over us, but he doesn't even know why. They're all very nervous: him, Calcifer... and Toothless."

\- "Did you find what's stinking so bad? The smell disappears when you're at some distance from the ruins", said Vivienne.

Wendy shook her head: they had not found anything either.

In his tree, the dragon sniffed and sneezed. He wrinkled his nose, flattened his ears and scanned the ground.

The night was falling. A light breeze was ruffling the yellow grass growing around the collapsed walls. The sun was beginning to descend and the shadows were stretching slowly over the hills.

\- "Supper time!" Pepper called grumpily.

They sat in a semicircle in front of the mural as the last sunbeams of afternoon were setting ablaze the sky. Günter was eating absentmindedly and Terrence eventually confiscated his quill and scrolls.

\- "You'll make yourself sick", he said firmly. "Don't you think my hands are full enough with two patients?"

He glanced towards Toothless who was gobbling the meatballs Wendy was throwing at him. The dragon never stayed at the same place. He kept pacing, his fur bristling on his back. Euphrosine was staring at her plate of Bolognese spaghetti, slumped in a wicker chair, a blanket around her shoulders. She looked terribly old and frail.

Calcifer was curled up on her lap and his glowing eyes seemed to be waiting for something.

\- "Will you stop it!" Vivienne suddenly exclaimed in an outraged tone.

\- "I'm not doing anything!" Scorpius retorted, offended.

\- "You're _fondling_ me! I never thought a gentleman like you would come to this. It's intolerable!"

The others turned towards the dispute, intrigued and amused.

Scorpius, his cheeks burning red with shame, had gotten up.

\- "I'd _never_ do that!" he gasped.

\- "You keep pinching my thigh!"

\- "I did nothing of the sort!"

Günter finally looked away from the mural and took interest in the crisis, as Scorpius' voice rose dangerously high-pitched.

\- "Come on, come on", said the team leader. "Don't be..."

Matilda gave a yelp and jumped to her feet.

\- "Something grazed me!" she squealed.

Christopher stood up immediately.

\- "A snake, perhaps?"

The shadows were stretching now in the dilapidated courtyard and the sun was about to dive behind a hill, in a last glowing radiance.

Wendy lit up the Pumpkin's headlights and a powerful artificial light flooded the mural and the collapsed walls.

\- "I see nothing", she said thoughtfully.

\- "If it was a snake, it ran away with all this racket", said Terrence who was finishing his plate calmly.

\- "You owe me an apology", Scorpius hissed, turning to Vivienne angrily.

But she was not looking at him. Her widened eyes were staring at the shadow of Euphrosine's chair.

\- "I... I-I saw something..." she stuttered, terrified. "A-a-an... an _eye_..."

Calcifer blazed up in a roar.

\- "They're coming", he announced in a tone that made them all shudder. "Get in the Pumpkin at once or none of us will see tomorrow's dawn."

They did not question him and rushed to their shelter. The dark places were already rustling unhealthily and they could hear, horrified, the slamming of disembodied teeth that had frightened them so much in the cave.

The sun had completely disappeared and the pale light still haloing the hills was soon to vanish.

\- "Al!" cried Wendy from the doorstep. "Al, change back – _hurry_!"

The dragon, bristling like an angry cat, was backing off from the shadows, spluttering and hissing, his tail thick and straight up.

\- "Al, come on!" Terrence yelled, shoulder against shoulder with the girl.

Calcifer and Scorpius jostled them and swooped on Toothless. The daemon whirled around the head of the dragon until he tore his gaze from the danger, then there was a flash of light. Wendy and Terrence blinked. A moment later, Albus was limping toward them, half-carried by Scorpius.

The door closed heavily on the last of them and everyone held their breath. The blind was down on the windshield and only a line of white light filtered close to the command table. Wendy was about to turn off the headlights, but Calcifer, who was burning with strange blue flames, waved her not.

Outside, something scratched on the metal.

 _Creak. Creak. Creak._

A shadow moved across the windshield and the Pumpkin slanted, creaking, as if _something_ was climbing on it.

Matilda stifled a moan of terror and clapped her hands over her mouth. Günter put his arm on her shoulders. Pepper looked up, listening intently. Christopher's wand was slipping in his clammy hand. He was trying hard to look cool since Vivienne was clinging to his arm.

The four of Hogwarts were huddle against each other. Albus looked a bit surprised, as if he did not remember how he had gotten there.

There was the noise of broken plates on the stone tiles outside, then some sort of a buzzing.

Something ran on the Pumpkin – the rattling of small claws. Then there were rustlings under the vehicle's belly.

A breath clouded the thin line between the blind and the windshield.

\- "Go away, go away, go away..." Scorpius was muttering under his breath.

What was on the Pumpkin got down heavily. There was a shock against the glass that did not split.

Then nothing.

And then a terrible _knock, knock, knock_ on the door.

Euphrosine opened wide her blue eyes – they looked like fireflies in the dark.

Something – _someone?_ – knocked again, and then they felt the Pumpkin tilt again.

Then there was a terrible grinding of metal.

\- "They're trying to pull out the legs", Wendy moaned.

She made a movement to go defend her machine, but Terrence grabbed her arm.

\- "Don't make a single move", whispered Calcifer.

His ghostly flames were casting a ghastly light on their frightened faces. Outside, the rustlings and whispers were becoming more pressing.

\- "Will this go on for long?" Christopher growled.

\- "All night", replied the daemon with a glare from beyond the grave.

\- "I hope they won't touch the mural..." Günter mumbled.

A stone crunched on the metal with a horrible noise of nail and everyone cowered, hands over the ears.

Thus passed the endless hours, only punctuated by quickly stifled exclamations of terror and screeching scratches on the Pumpkin.

At one point, the headlights went out abruptly, with a squeak. In the narrow dark band above the dashboard, they glimpsed a red eye and this time no one had time to stop Wendy when she angrily pointed her wand at the blind to pull it down completely.

After a moment, Pepper got up and made tea. Apart from the elf, no one dared to move and leave the corner where they had taken refuge. Calcifer was still burning high and no one touched the switches or tried to light a magic fire.

From time to time, they heard again knocking at the door and their anguish which had declined somewhat made a leap up again, clutching their throat.

They slumbered from time to time, exhausted. Finally, a ray of soft pink light pierced under the awning, and what was lurking outside fled with rustlings and clickings.

When they lifted the blind carefully, they found only the green hills and the ruins on the other side of the windshield. In the sky bright clouds were floating away and a pterodactyl was drying his wings wet with dew, perched on a tree.

\- "Are we safe?" Günter asked, massaging his painfully numb joints.

\- "No", said Calcifer. "Yesterday we were only a distant scent, but now they know we're here. When the shadows will turn, they'll come back."

\- "In this case, we better get the hell out of here", said Christopher.

\- "That's what Pepper said from the beginning", lectured the elf sententiously from the table where he was filling Albus' plate with eggs and bacon, despite the young man's protestations. Scorpius was also sitting with a new cup of tea and was absently munching a scone, blackening his notebook.

Vivienne had locked herself in the shower and seemed to be trying to drown herself. Wendy was already outside and they could hear her loud complains as she checked on the damages inflicted to the Pumpkin.

\- "What w-were these creatures?" Matilda asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes. " _Inferi_? Some m-mutant Shadows N-nibblers?"

Terrence stretched and snapped his neck.

\- "I reckon the answer's in the mural", he said, turning to Euphrosine. "Am I right?"

The old lady nodded sadly.

\- "Yes, you are. But we didn't know that at the time..."

Günter was looking at her apologetically. Behind them, at the table, Pepper was chiding Albus whom he found too skinny to his liking.

\- "Tonight is _Pizza_ ", was saying the elf, planting his slender hands on his narrow hips. "With mushrooms, tomatoes, mustard and ginger. You won't be picky for _that_ , will you?"

\- "I love pizza", Albus laughed. "Well, I like everything you cook, actually. It's just that I'm not very hungry right now..."

Pepper clicked his tongue grimly.

\- "If you don't feel hungry, you need to try something else. Ostrich haunches and invisible birds are not good for your health - especially raw. Rice pudding? Or treacle tart, perhaps?"

Scorpius suddenly choked on a mouthful of scone.

\- "This one is too thin too", decreed the old servant. "Chocolate cake and fennel gratin?"

\- "Not both in the same dish, if you don't mind", pleaded Albus, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

The elf scratched his jutting chin.

\- "Pizza it is, then."

\- "Pizza is great", hastened to confirm Scorpius. "Could I have some more tea, please, Pepper?"

But it was not going to be pizza for dinner on that night.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Although they were still tired by their sleepless night, the team members took turns to monitor the shadows as the day went by in the hourglass placed on top of the Pumpkin.

Wendy was patching and screwing to temporarily repair the vehicle. The enemy, whatever it was, had not managed to wrench the jointed legs, but it had slipped stone fragments in the gaps of the metal plates of the shell, weakened many bolts and dealt a fatal blow to the headlights.

Günter was working hard to copy the mural in every detail, magically transferring some large parts and detailing the pigments used on an increasingly long scroll. He wished he could have detached it from the wall and taken it with them, but besides the fact it was not painted on a lime plaster, there was the problem of space: the undetectable extension drawers of the Pumpkin were starting to overflow, filled with various samples all as valuable as the others.

At noon, they took a break and ate the sandwiches prepared by Pepper.

Matilda made a report on the vegetation and asserted that there was something extremely unusual. She showed them leaves in an advanced state of decomposition that she had collected _that very morning_. Albus explained that all the creatures he had observed in the area were from prehistoric times. They had the same transparent membrane as a skin, that let see through their skeleton. Christopher had been able to date the walls: the tower had been built in the twelfth century, he said. Vivienne did not agree: according to the constellations painted on the mural and thus known by the locals at the time, the ruins were necessarily more recent.

Terrence waited until the end of their fight and turned to Scorpius, requesting the translations he had made of the bas-relief of the mural.

\- "It's gibberish", said the government agent sullenly.

He had a headache from staring at the places where the dazzling sun left room for a shadow.

\- "Well, there are _words_ , at least. What are they?", insisted the healer.

\- "Literally? _Night, light, night light, dawn, dusk_ , etc. Or, _eat, star, eternal, knowledge, fire, death_. I've never seen something so meaningless."

Günter ran a weary hand in his gray hair.

\- "It made sense to those who painted this mural", he said slowly. "I think they wanted to hammer what was at the heart of their civilization."

\- "T'was not a _civilization_ ", said darkly Calcifer who was nibbling some gypsum chips. "T'was a bunch of thieves and liars."

Euphrosine looked up and put down on her plate the sandwich she had not yet touched.

\- "They were called the Reapers of Stars", she said slowly. "Jen and I had read that they lived in Agartha, a secret realm hidden underground or at the bottom of the sea, and that they had great power and knowledge beyond anything we could imagine."

\- "I've heard similar legends. They draw their origins probably in the same place and people", Günter said thoughtfully. "They all have the same ending: the Atlanteans or whatever their name in the story, end up being too arrogant and are punished. They disappear, stricken by the gods in a cataclysm…"

His eyes slid over the twisted silhouettes falling into a red abyss at the end of the mural.

The old witch heaved out a deep sigh.

\- "Jen thought their power was something a thousand times more powerful than magic as we know it. He had the theory that they had perished but that the source of their power was still there, somewhere. He thought that if we could find it, we'd have access to their knowledge. In Arne Saknussem's book...

\- "You read it?!" exclaimed Terrence. "Where is it now? We only have notes and they're incomplete. If..."

\- "It burned", Euphrosine said and something in her eyes silenced the healer.

The sun was high above the tower in ruins. There was not a single shade in this time of day.

\- "The mural isn't very clear", Günter said thoughtfully. "From what I understand, there are people who hunt or who pray – their arms are raised but it looks like they also have nets... unless it's sails or ribbons. Then we see a meteor shower, a dialogue between some sort of a spirit and a human, and then men, literally _enlightened_ , build machines and libraries. I deduce there's a link between the stars and the knowledge they have... oh, could these spirits be those butterflies with wings of fire?"

\- "You better let Miss Howler tell the story", Calcifer huffed. " _Butterflies_! The stupid beings can only create illusions."

Euphrosine smiled sadly.

\- "The Reapers of Stars. They were well named. In the book, Arne Saknussem writes that the Shufflers call the heavenly lights just before the Great Revival."

\- "The rain of stars just before the Axis opens", Terrence translated.

The woman nodded.

\- "The stars come trusting", she continued softly. "They come free but willing to give..."

\- "Like house elves", interjected Pepper.

Christopher patted his shoulder affectionately.

\- "Ah, we'll know that you're a free elf."

Wendy suddenly opened her eyes wide and her horrified gaze flickered from Euphrosine to the mural and back.

\- "Oh", she gasped. "I think I get it."

\- "It's not very difficult with the drawing under your eyes", Scorpius growled. "These guys were catching them and..."

He fumbled in his translation notes.

\- "... And absorbed their power. Or more accurately: they were _eating_ them."

Vivienne uttered an exclamation of horror.

\- "But it's barbaric! The _stars_... but if they really have... feelings ... it's ..."

\- "It must have been some sort of an agreement at first", said Günter quickly, studying the sketches scattered around him. "I guess the Atlanteans - the people of Agartha, or whatever they are called – went wrong when they wanted _more_ than what the Shufflers of Light were giving them."

\- "Humans always want more", hissed Calcifer.

\- "But _who_ are t-the Shufflers?" Matilda asked. "Have you s-seen t-them, Euphrosine?"

The old witch shook her head.

\- "I never saw them", she said sincerely. "Our journey... ended too soon. We did not come here either. We found a city under water with sculptures that told some parts of the story - the beginning only - and Jen... Jen..."

Calcifer swelled suddenly and almost set on fire the hair of Matilda who was not far from him.

\- "Jen Pendragon was too smart for his own good!" he snarled, spitting sparks. "He was a poet and he was charming and crazy and he took whatever he w-"

He paused and crackled, like blue and green will-o'-the-wisp on top of a mast, as if he could no longer catch his breath.

\- "We should go back to copying the mural", Scorpius said, frowning, as if he saw something in the fiery eyes of the daemon that the others could not discern.

He was nervously playing with the chain of his pocket watch. Christopher glanced uneasily around him.

\- "The Time Keeper is right. The shadows will turn soon", he said in a voice slightly choked.

\- "I need to finish fixing the Pumpkin", said Wendy, jumping to her feet.

Günter stood up and went back to the mural, munching on the sandwich he had forgotten during the discussion. Vivienne and Christopher joined him to draw.

\- "Al, could you also help us?" asked Terrence. "I don't think a second hike in the same day is a good idea and we could do well with another translator."

His friend nodded. He was feeling much better than the previous days, but he was still hit by a wave of dizziness when he stood up. The pain in his chest had dulled and his cough had almost disappeared after the floating mountains. It was like being in convalescence, except that he could not explain _why_ he was healing.

Terrence thought this was only another peak of improvement and dreaded the moment when the curve would dive again into a pit of sickness.

 _Maybe by then, if they could understand the story of the Reapers of Stars, they could avoid the same mistakes and get hold of the power Jen Pendragon had been pursuing._

 _"It burned."_

 _Albus, covered with a cold sweat, was telling him a dream in which he had seen burning a man dressed in a pink cape._

 _Surely there was a way that did not end like in the mural..._

In the rays of the sun glaring at the black men falling into the red abyss were drawn figures that looked like dragons.

Terrence shook off the uneasy feeling weighing on his shoulders and went back to work.

Under the Pumpkin, a gray tongue was beginning to lengthen. In the blue sky, the clouds were unraveling, long and fluffy like cotton fraying in water.

The Tower's shadow was stretching on the meager grass and Matilda, who was collecting samples of moss in between the interstices of the stone tiles, suddenly felt a breath brushing her neck.

She stiffened, turned her head centimeter by centimeter, her heart suspended in a beat and froze, staring at the thing that was emerging from the wall with a crunching noise of bones.

It was a skeleton with a curved spine, covered by a transparent membrane, with two red flames in his hollow orbits. He held out his arm towards her, half-opening his clanking jaw.

Matilda screamed and let go of everything she was holding to rush to the site.

\- "They're here!" shouted at the same time Christopher, slamming his shovel on the skeletal hand groping out of the ground.

\- "In the Pumpkin!" Calcifer called desperately. "This time we must leave!"

Wendy picked up her tools, stuffing them in a crate and into her pockets. She struggled for a moment against a creature that had gripped her best screwdriver, then left it the trophy and ran around the vehicle. Terrence and Scorpius were rolling roughly the kilometers of scrolls, gathering their notebooks, surrounded by a swirl of sketches and drafts.

Wendy threw her tools carte in the Pumpkin without looking and rushed to help them, not worrying about the sound of broken porcelain.

Suddenly there were shadows everywhere as if the clouds were playing at lengthening them, forming a clever trap as they passed in front of the sun.

Horrible skeletons with whitish skin were bursting out of the ground, crouched like animals, in every dark corner.

Vivienne was casting spell after spell, trying to set them on fire or to reduce them in pieces, but without any success.

Pepper tugged on Günter's sleeve, begging him to stop frantically copying the last piece of the mural, while the light around them was shrinking rapidly. The elf kept snapping his fingers, but his magic seemed to have no effect in this place where an unhealthy power absorbed all light.

Calcifer was bouncing everywhere, distraught.

\- "Come on!" he was yelling. "Come on, we need to leave! There are too many of them!"

Albus tackled him like a rugby ball and, then supported by Christopher, rushed to the Pumpkin where Matilda was helping Euphrosine to climb in.

Wendy and Scorpius reached the door at almost the same time, slaloming between the shadows, jumping to the side to avoid the skeletons which reached out to them, making their twisted vertebras grind against each other.

Vivienne climbed on a wall and ran on her high heels like a tightrope walker until she dove not very elegantly into the vehicle.

Slowly, the shadows were growing and engulfing the Pumpkin in which Wendy, febrile, was lighting the dashboard.

Christopher thumped a chair on the white skull of a creature that was starting to get into the vehicle and slammed the door.

\- "We must go!" Calcifer squealed.

\- "Terrence, Günter and Pepper are still out there", Scorpius panted, wiping the sweat dripping on his face with his sleeve. "Why is it that not _a single spell_ works on these damn monsters?"

\- "Wendy, Wendy, we n-need t-t-to help t-them", was sobbing Matilda.

\- "Do we have any weapons on board? A magical flamethrower or something?" Albus asked, hastening to the mechanic. He had turned a chair into crutches – his had stayed outside.

On the scaffolding, Terrence was stuffing in his bag the last scrolls, while Pepper helped Günter to climb on the crumbled window ledge above the mural.

The bottom of the tower was now completely black and skeletons with glowing orbits were looming in the darkness like dreadful fish. When the shadows touched the wall, one of them began to crawl up in a disturbing rattling of bones, trying to reach the two wizards and the elf who had taken refuge on the narrow stone edge.

The engine of the Pumpkin finally roared and the long jointed legs fanned out, sweeping away the skeletons. The vehicle turned on itself like a big spider at the end of a thread, then firmly marched toward the wall.

Occasionally, a creature was crushed and reduced to dust in a horrible screeching.

Christopher climbed on the table and opened the roof hatch under Wendy's guidance. He hauled himself up and motioned to Terrence.

\- "Over there! Jump!" he shouted.

\- "Go ahead", Günter ordered to the young healer who had turned to him.

Terrence hesitated.

\- "The mural! Our research is what's most important!" panted the team leader.

His wrinkled face was drenched with sweat and his fingers were trembling, hugging the wall in the frame of the window.

\- "Go ahead", Pepper said, knitting his thick bushy eyebrows. "We'll be right behind you."

Terrence nodded and swung an arm to gain momentum, his other hand clutching the strap of his bag. He jumped as far as he could and landed only just barely on top of the Pumpkin. The shock reverberated in his legs, sending a flash of hot pain in his brain.

For a moment he thought he was back in the Hebrides, his knee wounded and about to faint in the middle of the battlefield, then Christopher grabbed him round the waist just as he was tumbling in the swamp of shadows.

\- "Here's one!" shouted the geologist. "Wendy, close up, it's too far to the old fellow!"

The sun was veiled and the blond ruins were turning grey. Over the hills, other glowing red eyes were blossoming like deadly flowers.

\- "The _old fellow_ ", Pepper grumbled. "Who does this insolent think he's talking about?"

Günter giggled, despite his fear.

The Pumpkin swirled, wiping off another assault of the skeletons, then leapt forward, scraping its big metal belly on the collapsed slabs and stones.

\- "NOW!" Christopher hollered, holding out an arm, his wand ready, even if there was too little height to levitate someone who might have fallen.

The old man took a deep breath. He reached out to the elf.

\- "Together", he said.

Pepper smiled.

\- "Together", he chuckled.

They dashed forward and crashed on top of the Pumpkin.

\- "Almost there", groaned Christopher, helping them climb to the hatch.

The vehicle flipped and they slipped dangerously.

\- "Holy Pogrebin! Watch out, Wendy!"

The skeletons were gathering on the tabs at the back, climbing, clicking, groping with their horrible cold arms.

Günter's clammy hand was slipping off Christopher's fingers. He pulled up Pepper but something slammed into his shoulder and excruciating pain exploded in his brain.

\- "Come on, old man", begged the geologist breathing heavily.

\- "Cadwallader. Get Pepper", muttered the team leader who was seeing the sun drown into a dark mist and little figures dancing in a circle around him. "Let go of me - run away."

\- "No way", Christopher wheezed.

He wanted to get his wand, but he had put it in between his teeth to get a better hold of the arm of his teammate and now he was afraid he would blow up his own face if he articulated a spell wrong.

Suddenly his burden became lighter and he managed to hoist the leader more easily. He tumbled into the vehicle, swinging in the body of the old man and realized only then that Günter had fainted and that Pepper was not holding his hand anymore.

\- "The elf fell off!" he screamed.

\- "Elves don't fall", Pepper chided, popping his head inside, his big eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "He didn't want to let go of my hand, but I broke free and found a way up."

He slipped in.

\- "Taking off – now!" Wendy yelled, lowering the levers with determination.

The Pumpkin jumped up and the hatch opened. It slammed on the roof with a horrible noise of crumpled metal. Something snapped and it broke away, falling into the shadows with a heavy clank.

Euphrosine's eyes bulged out as a skull with glowing eyes loomed through the hole.

\- "The Reapers are coming!"

\- "Faster, Wendy!" squealed Calcifer who was curled up in a corner in a cloud of smoke.

Scorpius was looking feverishly for his wand. Christopher and Terrence were stuck under the dead weight of Günter. Matilda was screaming in terror. Albus, who was lighting up the way ahead for Wendy, turned to them helplessly.

Everything happened in a split second. Vivienne picked up Wendy's welding gun. Pepper climbed on the table and pummeled the enemy out with a ladle. Scorpius finally managed to levitate a closet door that he crashed into the opening.

The welding gun spat a bright light and suddenly it was over.

The Pumpkin was traveling at high speed down the slope of a hill, chased by a horde of skeletons slithering in the grass, but they were all safe inside.

For several minutes they remained petrified, then Matilda burst into loud sobs and Vivienne did just the same, crouching down, running her hands in her crimson hair. Tears were streaming down the contorted face of Wendy who kept her gaze on the road. Albus let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes for a moment. His heart was pounding so hard he was almost out of breath.

Euphrosine staggered and slumped down. Calcifer snuggled against her, still throbbing with terror.

Terrence and Christopher laid Günter on the table. The room was in a mess. During the flight, things had fallen from the shelves, there were broken dishes on the floor and the chairs were upside down.

\- "His shoulder cracked", muttered the geologist anxiously, leaning over the ashen face of the man he had come to see as a father figure.

\- "It's going to be fine", said the healer. " _That_ I can heal."

Scorpius, his legs trembling like jelly, put back his wand in its holster and turned to Pepper.

\- "Thank you", he mumbled.

\- "Ha. The pizza dough stayed back there", the elf said, looking like a disgruntled butler.

And then he collapsed.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

When Günter opened his eyes, they had left the deathly hills and the Pumpkin was floating weightlessly in a cave with walls of ice. Tiny insects - no, it was very small pearly fish – were swimming around the vehicle, foraging in the remains of moss and earth hung on the metal belly and gently cleansing it.

The room was tidy and clean. From the open window came the smell of hyacinth. From his bunk, Günter could see a bouquet of white flakes on the kitchen table, next to a ladle. He tried to sit and his bandaged shoulder brought back the memories of the terrible hours spent at the ruins.

\- "It was broken", said the voice of Terrence. "But nothing a bottle of _Skele-Gro_ couldn't fix."

The team leader took the glasses held out to him and put them on. Only then he noticed the healer looked exhausted. His gaze was infinitely sad.

A shudder ran down Günter's spine.

\- "What happened?" he asked. "Where are the others?"

\- "They're outside", said Terrence. "The weather's rather pleasant, considering that we're more or less inside an _iceberg_."

He leaned over and helped his patient to straight up.

\- "Günter. You need to know... Pepper was injured by the Reapers of Stars...

The team leader tensed.

\- "Beg your pardon?"

Terrence swallowed hard.

\- "Euphrosine said it was what they were. The shadows – well, the skeletons, I mean. The mural was telling of their fate. When they went too far, they condemned themselves to become these… things."

He helped the old man up and led him toward the door, holding his arm.

\- "Pepper's a hero, but that you already knew. He managed to push you towards the hatch when Christopher could no longer haul you up and one of these creatures scratched his back."

He gently pushed the heavy door and Günter blinked, dazzled by the sheer clarity of the ice. When his eyes were somewhat accustomed, he saw the little camp bed in the middle of the large cave and the other members of his team, all gathered around.

Vivienne was drawing iridescent stars with the tip of her wand. Christopher was giving a speech, a big cookbook in his hands. Matilda was weaving a wreath.

Now Günter understood why it smelled so good. The inside of the iceberg was covered with white hyacinths.

Euphrosine was winding a ball of yarn on Wendy's outstretched arms. Scorpius was perched at the end of the bed, his notebook on his lap and Albus was sitting on the floor, his arms crossed next to the pillow.

\- "He's waiting for you", Terrence said.

Günter wanted to move faster, but his body betrayed him. He was shaking with fatigue when he sank into an empty chair next to the bed.

\- "Ah", said Pepper looking at him from head to toes with satisfaction, but without making any movement. "Better?"

\- "On the mend", Terrence confirmed with a brief nod. "But he'll be sore for two days. Nothing that a good rest can't cure, though."

Günter felt his eyes prickle.

\- "A cup of tea is all he needs. With milk and a slice of lemon", the elf said with a warning glance towards Scorpius.

\- "I'll see to that", muttered the government agent.

\- "Don't let him stay up all night, he's too old for that."

\- "We'll make sure he takes care of his health", Euphrosine promised hoarsely.

Matilda was sniffing. Wendy was now clutching the bundle of tangled wool, a lump in her throat. Vivienne kept drawing crystal stars above the bed, but she was visibly fighting tears.

Günter cleared his throat. He took the slender fingers of the elf in his hand and gently squeezed them.

\- "I can take care of myself, old chap."

\- "I doubt it", scoffed the elf.

But his gaze softened under his bushy eyebrows. Strangely, the beautiful light of the ice made even crueler the grayness of his skin, even more pathetic the baldness of his head, his bat ears, his hooked nose and his protruding chin.

He was wearing his usual tartan kilt and Günter guessed that he must have asked one of the girls to iron his plastron because it did not curled up like on Christmas Day. Under it, the scrawny chest was wrapped in a thick dressing giving off a putrid smell that even the scent of hyacinths could not hide.

Pepper turned his head to look at Albus and his free hand pulled something out of his pocket.

\- "You must give this to Hermione Granger", said the elf in a voice that was faltering a little. He patted the little knitted hat. The frayed wool had almost lost all color. "Tell her that Pepper is grateful she gave him _the freedom to choose_ whom he wanted to serve."

The young man nodded. His green orbs were bright with tears.

Pepper closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and stared at Christopher severely.

\- "I won't say a thing about Free Elves", said the geologist. "Except that I'm damn proud to be the friend of one of them."

The old servant stifled a chortle. Terrence leaned and took his pulse.

\- "He needs to rest", he said, turning to the others.

\- "The Free Elf is not done speaking", protested Pepper.

\- "Oh. Sorry."

Günter bit his lip, torn between the hot tears prickling in his eyes and the laughter bubbling in his throat.

\- "This is very important", said Pepper, offended.

\- "We're listening to you", said Terrence – he had tried a light tone, but his voice had cracked.

The elf turned to Günter and looked at him intently.

\- "When you go back to England, you must go see your son. It's been too long now."

The old man nodded.

\- "I will."

Pepper arched a bushy eyebrow, skeptical.

\- "I will", Günter repeated with a strangled chuckle.

\- "Good, then", said the elf.

He closed his eyes again, sinking into the pillow, lifting his jutting chin toward the flickering light of the iceberg. A tiny pearl fish pecked his toe.

Pepper opened his eyes, looked at Günter one last time with a smile.

\- "Ah", he sighed contentedly. "Being at Hogwarts was a good life for a house elf. But coming to Antarctica – it was even better."

His big eyes blinked once or twice, then closed and this time he did not move anymore. A light breath escaped through his parted lips and he fell asleep as peacefully as if he was going to have a good nap.

Günter then finally let his tears flood out, holding the frail hand of the elf who had worked with him for over thirty years and who had followed him to the ends of the world.

\- "Goodbye, old chap", he whispered.

* * *

 ** _TBC_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: FOLLOW THE DOG_**


	21. Follow the dog

**FOLLOW THE DOG**

* * *

The small casket, upholstered with hyacinths, rose slowly into the ice chimney and disappeared from their eyes when the light became too dazzling. The breeze was swirling up, taking with her white petals and small pearly scales.

\- "Now that's it. He's gone", muttered Christopher. "Always with class, the ol' fellow."

Günter took off his glasses to wipe away his tears and smiled as he put them back. His gray hair was falling on his forehead in uneven strands and his tanned cheeks looked hollower than usual.

\- "Always", he repeated softly. "If you do not mind, now, I'd like to be alone for a little while."

The others nodded sadly and walked away in silence.

Matilda moved further into the field with her herbarium. Christopher lay down in the middle of the flowers, his arms crossed under his neck, and pretended that he was taking a nap. Terrence went to bed. Scorpius went for a walk with his notebook. Wendy went back to repairing the dents on their faithful vehicle's metal body and Albus sat next to her to watch her work.

Euphrosine went back inside the Pumpkin and, tiptoeing to not disturb the exhausted healer, she headed to the kitchen cupboards. She took the big teapot on the highest shelf, lifted the porcelain lid and smiled.

\- "That's not the best hiding place", she said gently. "Someone could have poured water on you inadvertently."

\- "Is he dead?" Calcifer asked, curling on the fingers reaching out to him.

He was no bigger than a sparrow and his tiny blue flames were crackling.

\- "He's dead," said Euphrosine softly. "Like every creature of flesh and blood. You don't have to be afraid, you can't die."

\- "But if the Reapers had caught me, it would have been worse than death!" squeaked the little daemon in the palm of her hand.

\- "I know", said the old woman. "I'm sorry. We should have listened to you and kept going instead of staying to study the fresco. None of this would have happened."

She sighed.

\- "But there's no point in saying that kind of thing. Too many people already feel guilty..."

She stroked Calcifer's purring head, brought him close to her face and let him curl up against her cheek. He was warm and throbbing wildly like the heart of a scared child.

\- "I'm _so_ sorry," she repeated.

The daemon, eyes half-closed, snuggled against the wrinkled neck of the witch.

\- "I miss the house elf already", he said, his high-pitched voice suddenly hoarse. "It hurts. Have you been missing Jen Pendragon like that for a hundred years?"

\- "Yes", whispered Euphrosine.

\- "I miss the sky too," mumbled Calcifer. "But it's different, because I know it's still there – only out of reach."

\- "It'll be over soon," said the old woman. "I promise."

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Wendy finished screwing tight a bolt, then wiped her sweaty face with the back of her wrist, leaving a trail of grease on her forehead. Her gloves made huge paws at the end of her slender arms. She searched the kangaroo pocket of her overalls for a handkerchief and blew in it loudly before continuing to fix the metal plate under the belly of the Pumpkin which was gurgling contentedly.

\- "It's so weird", she sniffled. "Pepper's dead and yet the world has not stopped rolling. Our journey in the Axis goes on, the weather's nice, this iceberg is beautiful and the hyacinths smell good... it's unfair."

Albus, who was holding the manual open to the right page, nodded.

\- "I know," he said simply.

Wendy's gray eyes flashed dangerously.

\- "I really wish you'd stop doing that", she said through her teeth, focusing on a new bolt so she wouldn't have to look at the young man.

\- "What d'you mean?"

\- "You're always so... so..."

The screwdriver slipped and wrenched off the bolt which, carried away by momentum, hit the mechanic's jaw. She let out a cry of pain.

\- "You get angry when we try to help you, but you keep everything for yourself!" she hissed, tears in her eyes. "You're _allowed_ to explode, but you can't blame us when we're worried! Look at how calm you are right now! I _know_ you'll make yourself sick overthinking and then you'll push us away when it'll become too hard to bear! "

Albus frowned and put down the manual.

\- "I don't do that", he protested.

\- " _Yes_ , you do! I liked it better when you were crying for peanuts... I hate arguing, but I'd rather you let me see how you feel... You did, before. You've changed, Al."

He stiffened.

\- "And you don't like that, I guess," he snapped back.

Wendy looked at him beseechingly.

\- "I'm trying to understand you," she pleaded. "We're getting married and it won't be easy every day. We _will_ fight, we _will_ have troubles, we _will_ have to make decisions, we _will_ change. Not just you, me too. I love you, Al, and I want us to get to the end together."

Her rainy eyes were not letting him look away.

\- "I won't let you down," she said in a trembling voice. "Do you hear me? I'll stay with you, even if you turn into a dragon forever, even if I have to sleep in the meadow to be next to you, so I warn you: I'm not going to be scared of you. I _will_ confront you, every time I'll need to."

His anger crumpled down.

\- "You're _scared_ of me?"

The distress in his green eyes was such that Wendy dropped her wrench to take him in her arms.

\- "Only when you tell me to leave you alone", she whispered. "When you try to make me believe you don't need me."

The young man leaned against her, burying his face against the t-shirt stained with black marks.

\- "I _always_ need you by my side, Wendy," he stammered. "But I wonder sometimes if one day you won't get tired of me... if you won't go away... I... when I hurt so much... when I think that maybe I'll... _die_... I tell myself that it'd be better if we had not met..."

She shook her head briskly and hugged him hard.

\- "Nonsense," she whispered. "It was worth it – every moment we spent together, every battle, every laugh... and all that will come, wonderful or terrible – I will not regret it, not one moment, even if a day comes when we're separated..."

Her voice choked and Albus wrapped his arms around her.

\- "If one day we find ourselves like Günter, watching the other one leave in a ray of light, I want to be sure that I lived intensely every second I spent with you. I don't want to find myself thinking about what I did not say, what I didn't do – or suddenly realize I didn't _try_ to change. I don't care if we fight, as long as we live fully."

He tore himself from her and pushed aside the locks of brown sweeping on the cheeks of the girl, stuck by tears and grease.

\- "I'm sorry, Wendy," he muttered. "You are so strong and I forget all too often that _I_ should be protecting you."

She shook her head with a chuckle.

\- "We're no longer in the Middle Ages, Al. We protect _each other_ nowadays. You haven't heard a thing I said..."

He leaned into her.

\- "Oh, I've heard you all right", he assured, brushing his lips against his fiancée's. "I've heard everything and I'm going to endeavor, I promise."

\- "Well then. I forgive you, for this time," Wendy whispered, returning the kiss.

The breeze was gently blowing over the field of hyacinths, slipping their scent and the sound of voices through the open door of the Pumpkin.

On his bed, Terrence, eyes wide open, was staring hard at the bunk over his own.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

In the two next following days, the iceberg began to melt rapidly and they found they were swept up a river so wide that they could not see the banks. The weather was good and the huge sky above them was of the cerulean blue of a romantic painting. Cotton clouds were floating along the water and the sun was shining in the current.

\- "I hope we'll find a land soon," said Christopher. "Otherwise we might end up taking a bath."

In fact, what they were at risk of was rather in the nature of a _dive_.

They did not notice it right away. Their ears had become accustomed to the whispered silence of the iceberg, and then to the course of the river. It took a few hours for them to realize that the roar that was growing closer was that of a waterfall.

Then the Pumpkin quickened her pace, clinging to what little ice left that was keeping them afloat.

They all worked together to divert the ride to one of the islands that emerged from the river, without any success. Then the rapids swelled and they believed their last hour had come, until the Pumpkin stumbled on a big rock. Wendy operated the levers and the long articulated legs hoisted the golden vehicle to safety – for the moment.

\- "We're steep above the waterfall," Scorpius announced in a worried voice.

It took a lot of contortions to draw to them the long, solid lianas they could see on a nearby island, to harpoon a palm tree and to levitate the round vehicle.

They collapsed in the sand, finally safe but out of breath, and stayed like this for a while. Then Günter stood up.

\- "Come on, let's settle down for the night. We'll look for a way to cross the waterfalls tomorrow."

They drew straws to point out who would be making supper and when it fell on Scorpius, Vivienne volunteered to replace him. The government agent, who had never touched a pan in his life before, was the worst cook in the group. Even Terrence's strange concoctions were more manageable than his own, and their only source of comfort in the absence of Pepper was to imagine the horrified comments the house elf would have made had he seen the state of his stove.

While the astronomer was preparing dinner, Günter sat down at one of the folding desks and studied his notes on the fresco. Matilda got busy collecting samples of plants and Christopher started scrabbling in the rocks licked by the surf. Albus, on his improvised crutches, went away with Scorpius to explore the surroundings. Terrence, Calcifer floating over his shoulder, went off in another direction. As for Wendy and Euphrosine, they settled on the fine sand beach and watched the glorious sunset.

The island on which they had gotten stranded was just above the waterfall and when they had tasted the water, they had realized it was _salty_.

It was _not_ a river. It was a _sea_ that flung itself at the end of a plateau with passion, bubbling with mist and light. The pink and golden horizon was filling the sky with beauty, erasing the contours of the ocean. The water was glistening under the puffs of clear clouds, fleeting with shiny reflections on the edge of the rocks, and pouring into the depths of another ocean, rumbling powerfully. The wet haze rising from the waterfall smelled of papaya and was blurring the landscape.

It was the end of the world, in many ways, and their island was perhaps a lost paradise, with its coconut trees gracefully leaning over a turquoise lagoon, the lush vegetation that contrasted with the white sand and the rainbow fish that came undulating beneath the bright surface.

\- "The Axis will never cease to amaze us," Wendy said, stretching languidly, savoring the gentle caress of the setting sun. "I was expecting an endless tunnel that would lead to some kind of magical ciborium, but it's a thousand times better."

She had barely finished her sentence that she turned crimson with shame.

\- "Oh, I didn't mean... Pepper's death was awful and the Reapers are the most horrible creatures I've ever seen... what I meant is...er…"

\- "I understood", said the old witch with an understanding smile. "You know, when we first came, we lost two of our companions in another hall of the Axis, but still, I couldn't help but marvel at what we were discovering."

She undid the elastic at the end of her short braid and let the breeze flutter in her white hair. For a moment, in the evening purple light, she looked very young.

Then she turned to Wendy and, on her grave face, an infinity of wrinkles deepened.

\- "The journey will soon come to an end," she said. "At that moment, you will have to guide the others on the way home."

\- "Why?" interrupted the mechanic, a flash of concern in her eyes. "Where will _you_ be? What's-"

Euphrosine cut her imperiously. Her severe blue eyes dived into the girl's gray eyes, mesmerizing her.

\- "Listen to me, Wendy. _You will need to leave the Pumpkin behind_. Don't worry, the Axis will spit it back to the surface. Now. _When everything turns dark, follow the dog_. The last verse of the prophecy always tells of the way out."

\- "What about the skylark?" could not help asking Albus' fiancée. "And how do you know I'll still be there? Something could happen to me or..."

\- "Let me speak," the old woman ordered, grabbing Wendy's hand and squeezing it so hard that the girl winced in pain. "I don't know what the skylark means, but I _know_ that when the end of the time we're given is coming, we suddenly find ourselves in the most complete and opaque darkness."

\- "What will the dog look like? How will I know it's him?"

\- "You'll know, I promise."

Suddenly, the beach was very cold. The waterfall was growling and the bubbling mist gilded by the last sunrays felt unreal.

\- "The dog will take you to a railway line submerged by a large body of water. Follow it. Listen to me, it's very important. Walk between the rails, do not stray left or right. And whatever happens, whatever you hear or feel, _do not look back_. Walk until you reach the lamppost. There, you will find a boat. You have to put something inside – a payment. A golden coin, a shoe lace or a strand of hair, whatever it is, you just have to leave a part of yourself."

Wendy nodded, mentally trying to write everything down.

\- "The boat will take you to the ice banks outside of the Axis and, from there, you should be able to find your way back with the astrolabe."

\- "But if we're far from the Scarlet Tower? Without the Pumpkin, we won't be able to survive on the surface of Antarctica."

Euphrosine's eyes sparkled and she grinned mysteriously.

\- "Oh, you won't be cold, if that's what worries you. It will be a pleasant walk and you should not regret it."

Wendy bit her bottom lip.

\- "Why me?" she repeated.

The old woman redid her braid and reattached the elastic.

\- "Because you're not marked with a seal. You will not be tested. And because you're the most resolute of us all."

She rose in a ruffle of petticoats and brushed the sand that had slipped into the folds of her old-fashioned blue dress.

\- "Come on. Let's go back to the others."

Night was falling and the Pumpkin's windows reflections looked like stars in the lagoon.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Terrence was sitting in the natural seat of a crooked coconut tree. His left knee was raised under his chin and his right foot was tracing circles in the fine sand. His long blond ponytail and his white coat were gently fluttering in the breeze. The setting sun was casting a golden glow on his glasses, but could not erase the bitter fold of his mouth.

Calcifer, while nibbling at a volcanic rock, was watching him with interest.

\- "Stop blinding yourself," he suddenly piped up in his high-pitched, mocking voice. "It's not getting any better and you know it."

Terrence jumped.

\- "What are you talking about, Firefly?"

Calcifer chuckled.

\- "I know what you're thinking, you know. In fact, anyone would know, just taking one look at your face."

The healer blushed hard.

\- "Anyone?"

\- "You're so _obvious_ , Terrence Swanson. Even more than your friend Scorpius. A teenager's feelings do not remain those of a man and what you thought right at that time is no longer true now. It was beautiful and it was good, but it's not worth it anymore and you can feel it, isn't it? Circumstances have changed – people too."

Terrence frowned.

\- "For the last time, _what_ are you talking about?"

\- "I'm talking about when you were in the Hebrides and you decided that if it was Albus Potter's job to save the world, it would be yours to take care of him," said Calcifer, staring at him with his fiery eyes.

The young blond man flinched.

\- "How d-do you know t-that? You were not there!"

\- "Yes, but the dragon was", sing-sang the daemon, inflating his red flames like a big chicken settling over an egg.

\- "You're no dragon," Terrence said flatly.

Calcifer laughed.

\- "No, and I think you've known what I am for a while now. Then you should remember that my wisdom is infinite and my advices must be accepted with reverence."

\- "Well. Shall we talk about a certain will-o'-the-wisp that was hiding in a teapot, freaking out after the Reapers attacked us?"

The daemon swelled with fury and his heat felt so threatening that the healer stepped back.

\- "It's all about _you_ , human," Calcifer roared angrily. "About your hesitations, your doubts, your regrets! About you, about this girl who was fighting with a bludgeon and about all the knowledge of the world! If you keep going like this, you _will_ be devoured by the shadows."

Terrence tilted his head to the side and put his hands in his pockets. A funny expression passed over his face, something between bitterness and gratitude.

\- "Why do you take the trouble to talk to me if you know how it'll end?" he asked in a low voice.

\- "I know what's going to happen, and I also know what _might_ happen," Calcifer said, calming down. "It's different."

\- "Nothing forces you to point us in the right direction. After all, it was some of our fellows that damned you to this long exile..."

The daemon squirmed uncomfortably.

\- "I don't want to lose someone else," he mumbled.

The night was beginning to fall and the lagoon was darkening. A phosphorescent glow was born underwater in the coral reefs and drew slowly luminous arabesques beneath the surface of the water. The breeze shuddered in the lush greenery, carrying away the distant laugh of a mermaid, and the insects started to chant their nocturnal, rustling song.

\- "I don't want to lose either," Terrence muttered.

He took off his glasses and massaged the ridge of his aquiline nose.

\- "I don't know what to do, Cal. I don't want to do anything but I don't want to regret not doing a thing and I don't know what I should be doing anyway. I feel overwhelmed..."

Calcifer hesitated, then he flew to the healer and stared intensely at the frustrated blue eyes.

\- "Terrence Swanson from Finchley. The boy who did not know how to give up. It's not about _understanding_ , Asparagus, it's about _choosing_. If you keep trying to understand, you'll end up losing yourself forever. The good question is: what do you _want_ to do?"

The young man smiled bitterly, but he did not answer. The daemon let out an exasperated sigh.

\- "We don't have much time, you know. If you don't make a decision, Albus Potter will not be able to show resolution, the dragon will become a wild beast again and Scorpius Malfoy will kill the skylark."

Terrence's heart stumbled on a beat.

\- "You mean that because of me, they could all get stuck in the Axis?"

\- " _No_ ," said Calcifer, rolling his eyes as if he was addressing a particularly inattentive child. "What I'm saying is that you and your friends are complementary and inseparable. You were born the year the Gates opened but no one found the way into the Axis. I thought you had made the connection a long time ago, smarty pants."

\- "Al was born the year before," Terrence objected.

\- "Yes, but it was _because_ of him and of what he was that the Shufflers broke their vow to no longer meddle in human affairs. And it's not for nothing that the Gates have reopened now. Three times seven years have passed. This is the last cycle. To be born, to live and to die. The Axis keeps the world in balance and _that_ , you don't need to understand it: you just have to accept it."

The healer nodded silently. He put back on his glasses and thoughtfully rubbed his neck. He raised his head and held out his hand to pat Calcifer's head.

\- "I think I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to you," he said.

\- " _Finally_. It was laborious", grunted the daemon, curling up under his palm like a cat.

Above the dark blue sea, on which were darting brief silver gleams, three large moons had risen. The white steam of the waterfall was rising toward them, leaving brilliant droplets on the black rocks emerging from the river.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

Albus made sure the loose soil was stable, then planted his crutches and jumped over the big root blocking his way.

\- "These crutches look good to me," Scorpius commented. "They're just like the other ones. I can't see what Terrence has against them."

\- "It's because the others were actually my prosthesis. It's not cheap, and now that we've lost it, he thinks his internship supervisor will get so mad he'll fail him."

\- "There's no insurance for that?"

\- "No, but on the other hand I could tell them it was my fault. If Terrence had not metamorphosed my prosthesis into crutches and made sure I couldn't reverse the charm, I probably would have tried putting it on again and I might have made things even worst."

\- "You really are an idiot," said Scorpius.

\- "I know," mumbled Albus.

\- "Anyway, I'm glad you're better. First you make us believe you're going to die, then you're better, then you're back to really sick and then you miraculously get back on your feet again... no wonder Terrence's pulling his hair."

They walked for a while before finding what they were looking for: a stream of fresh water with green grassy banks in a grove of breadfruit trees.

\- "Ah, we'll be able to fill the tanks," Scorpius said. "I'd never have imagined _Aguamenti_ to be the kind of spell to have a limit, but now that I think about it, it's no wonder. Can you picture yourself trying to quell a fire with it? The physical expense of such magic would be enough to kill a man."

\- "Filling Vivienne's bath twice a day would exhaust anyone too."

\- "Yes. Pepper had pointed it out to me. Fortunately, we never were short of water until now. Actually, we wouldn't have been if we could have refueled on the territory of the Rea... back there."

Albus decided not to notice the hesitation that had altered his friend's last words. He sat down in the velvet grass, took off his shoe and dipped his good leg into the clear stream. Scorpius sat quietly beside him, and washed his hands that were still sticky with salt and sand.

\- "Pepper was doing the accounting with you?"

\- "Yes, and there was no need for abacus, believe me."

They remained silent for a moment, filled with emotion at the thought of the house elf.

\- "You have a lot more work to do, now," Albus said softly. "You'll be okay? Need help?"

\- "Not from you, you're as bad with numbers as a mountain troll."

They laughed together, then Scorpius darkened.

\- "It'll be fine," he said. "It keeps me busy, it's better like that."

Albus tilted his head to look at him. In the evening light, the broad leaves of the trees were fringed with purple and gold. The brook was chirping between the stones and some insects were still buzzing in the large white flowers of the frangipani.

\- "What's wrong with you, Scorp'? Since the day we got lost in the field of butterflies, you've been acting different..."

\- "Nothing's wrong with me," grumbled the blond young man, looking away.

Albus pulled his foot out of the water and crossed his leg in front of him, leaning slightly to make up for the missing counterweight.

\- "Is it because of the dream you had that day?"

Scorpius looked up with tormented, pleading gray eyes.

\- "Please, don't ask."

The emerald eyes that he met were not those of the dragon, but those of the little boy sitting at the same table as him on his first day at Hogwarts.

\- "I'm worried about you, you know."

Malfoy clenched his fists, his dark eyebrows frowning under his pale fringe in a last thread of will.

\- "Scorpius... Wendy says we should not carry our burdens alone. That we'll only hurt ourselves if we shut the others out…"

His friend stifled a broken laugh.

\- "And when you listen to her at last, it's to _me_ that you apply the advice..."

Albus looked at him sheepishly.

\- "Sorry. I'm trying, but..."

\- "It's okay," interrupted Scorpius, sighing. "All right, you won."

He put his hands on his ankles and said nothing for a while. Albus waited patiently. The night breeze, warm and caressing, was playing with the dark curls in need of a trim on his nape.

\- "I saw him," the young blond man finally said hoarsely. "The Dark Lord."

Albus flinched. Images immediately began to bubble up in his memory, born from the empathic bond he had shared with his father for years. Fugitive and abominable pictures in which two red eyes were slithering among black fumes crawling out of Hell and where a long cloak that hid something more appalling than death.

\- "He told me... he said it was not _wrong_ to want something and to do everything to get it... that I too had the _right_ to... oh, I _wanted_ to believe him... I could have... he was so... sinuous, so captivating... so terribly tempting..."

Scorpius swallowed hard. He had not realize he was shaking under his thin white shirt.

\- "You know, my father... he became a Death Eater to protect his family – but I think I could have sold myself just to get that power..."

He bit his lip and a drop of blood pearled out.

\- "It was so intoxicating... to tell yourself there was nothing forbidden anymore, _no reason_ to hold back, to not get what you wanted – and the power! The incredible power I would have possessed... it could have changed _everything_..."

His voice was feverish and two red spots had appeared on his pale cheeks. His gray eyes had lost their softness to a metallic luster, like the reflection of a blade in a fog.

\- "You've seen the... the Reapers of Stars... what they became because they wanted more than what had been given to them! I... I know it's inside me… the same repulsive… _desire_..."

He paused suddenly and clutched his fingers on the strangely gleaming mark on his left arm.

\- "I'm scared," he whispered, "I'm so scared of... of myself."

Night had fallen now, and it was very dark beside the stream, whose water was barely gleaming.

\- "If I can't _have_... what am I going to _be_?" he stammered.

Albus had remained frozen, as if he had suddenly seen an ignoble monster stand in front of him, and Scorpius slumped a little more on himself, his neck burning with shame, listening to the silence like if it was a condemnation.

Then a hand touched his shoulder and he flinched.

\- "But you did not give in, did you?

The blond young man stifled a sob, refusing to look up.

\- "Matilda woke me up. I don't know what I would have done..."

He gasped, overwhelmed by the despair and shame with which he had struggled for days.

\- "You should stay away from me. I'm dangerous... Calcifer told me so when I came here, but I didn't want to believe him... I'm going to do something horrible if you let me stay with you... I'm going to hurt you and I can't bear the idea I..."

The grass was mussed and suddenly an arm hugged him firmly.

\- "Good thing you finally got that stuff out of you," Albus said. "No wonder you looked like something was eating you from the inside."

Scorpius turned his head and again the green eyes of his childhood were there – the same compassion, the same unshakable faith, the same innocence stronger than all the doubts of the world.

\- "You'd _never_ hurt me," said Albus, smiling. "I trust you. You wouldn't hurt anyone, and you never would have kneeled in front of the Dark Lord, whatever he'd have promised you."

Scorpius wanted to burst into tears and confess that there _was_ something for which he could have lost his mind, but he suddenly froze when the green eyes glittered with the familiar gold. Albus was still gazing at him, but he heard the dragon's voice very clearly.

 _"You are strong, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, and your heart is as pure as that of the child of forgiveness. Do not be frightened and the skylark will fly high. I too trust you."_

The three moons were gliding in the dark sky and their silvery rays were shimmering through the thick foliage of the trees, caressing the brook's waters that were glinting like angels' hair.

\- "Don't be scared," Albus said.

Scorpius nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment to get rid of the strange feeling of having cotton in his ears, then he pulled away brusquely, disengaging himself from the arm resting on his shoulders, and stood up.

\- "The others are probably starting to worry about us," he said, clearing his throat. "We should go home."

\- "Okay," Albus said, taking the hand reaching out to help him up.

On the way back, their soles left bright footsteps in the soft soil. Wherever the crutches sank, two small round holes were outlined in the ground and small transparent shoots were germinating instantly. The leaves and bushes were serrated with pink and blue light and the insects were sparkling like so many stars in the lush forest.

The next day, when they woke up, the Pumpkin was surrounded by a multitude of seeds similar to small jellyfish and it started to rise above the island like if the whitish cloud was lifting it. They moved slowly over the waterfall, then descended into the depths, sinking into the thick mist.

* * *

 ** _TO BE CONTINUED_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _: STONE GIANTS_**


	22. Stone Giants

**STONE GIANTS**

* * *

Even tilting their heads back, they could not make out the ceiling of the cave. Far above them, the waterfall was blossoming into a large corolla of bright pink moss and was dazzling them, preventing them from deciding whether the water was reflecting a rainbow on a high vault or whether it formed some kind of an incredible and beautiful umbrella.

After an endless descent through the steam, the Pumpkin had landed on ancient slabs, in a huge empty and silent palace. They were surrounded by squatting giants, carved in gray granular stone, whose impenetrable expressions left them feeling uncomfortable.

Günter would have liked to camp there for days, to study every bas-relief, every detail of the gigantic toes, but the others urged him to move on.

Small blue fireflies sometimes danced in the strange, dark light of this hall. From time to time, you could hear the hollow sound of a drop of water reverberating to infinity.

The clatter of the Pumpkin's legs reminded them a little too much of the Reapers' scratching hands and they were anxiously waiting for the moment when they would again be "outdoors". But when the time came to stop for the night, they were still walking between two rows of statues.

They settled inside the vehicle, around the table after enlarging it, and Euphrosine served big ladles of soup. When she sat next to Albus, putting the lid back on the porcelain tureen, he tilted his head sideways, pensive.

\- "Ours are still red and swollen, like recent wounds. But yours is different. White and smooth, like the words on the back of my father's hand", he said, pointing to the word _Renounce_ engraved on the diaphanous skin of the old witch.

The others turned to him, intrigued.

\- "I know Harry Potter's famous scar, of course," Günter said, absent-mindedly tracing a lightening shape on his forehead. "But I've never heard of a mark on his hand. Is it from an injury he got during Hogwarts' battle, or was it when he was an Auror?"

Albus shook his head.

\- "Neither. It's an old school memory. A sadistic professor who made him copy _I must not say lies_ with his own blood. The phrase was indelibly inscribed on his skin."

\- "No wonder your parents thought 'Persnickety Pal' was being soft on us..." Wendy muttered.

\- "I've heard of this barbaric practice before," Christopher said. "It was the same year that insane headmistress who had replaced Dumbledore suspended all student associations – including Quidditch and the Globstones Club. My father has not yet recovered from this affront!"

\- "Charming", said Vivienne, blowing on her spoonful of soup to get rid of the corpse of an insect.

Calcifer was having a lot of fun toasting the moths swirling around the chandelier.

\- "Was it the year Ho-o-ogwarts was run by D-Death Eaters?" asked Matilda.

Scorpius put down his glass too abruptly and some water splashed on the tablecloth.

\- "Oh no," Albus said, "It goes way back. Well, it's not important, I was just wondering why your scar was different."

Euphrosine took the time to rip a piece of bread and mop the soup at the edge of her plate.

\- "It's like you said. Mine is _older_ ", she said slowly. "It's the third time it appears."

\- "Each time... _Renounce_?" asked Terrence, surprised.

\- "Each time," said Euphrosine. "The educational methods of Mr. Potter's teacher were undoubtedly debatable, but it seems that she understood that human beings can only understand their lessons by repeating them."

A heavy silence followed her words.

\- "More soup, anyone?" asked the old woman after a while.

\- "No, thank you", said Vivienne, glaring at the daemon who was still making popcorn with night bugs.

Christopher cleared his throat.

\- "We should set up guard duties tonight," he suggested. "Just in case…"

\- "I'll take first watch," said Gunter hastily. "I have a bunch of sketches to do. These giants look like those found on Easter Island, don't you think, Terrence?"

The healer nodded absently and joined the discussion with a delay. Albus and Wendy were telling old school memories to Matilda.

Lost in thought, a dark crease between in his eyebrows, Scorpius was fiddling with the Malfoy signet ring around his finger.

* * *

oOoOoOo

* * *

There was no alert during the night, nor during the day after. In the whitish halo of the wands, the giants remained imperturbable, facing each other on both sides of the cave that was never ending.

Günter was taking more and more notes and Christopher was filling his pockets with pebbles and samples, but the others were getting bored.

In the late afternoon of the third day, Albus started coughing again.

It was discreet, at first, a simple throat clearing that only drew to him some frowning eyebrows. Then, the fits got more and more frequent, harder, until he had to stop because he could not catch his breath.

\- "He doesn't have a fever – _yet_ ," Terrence explained to his team leader while the others were setting up the camp again for the night. "But let's not delude ourselves. This is the third time his condition is deteriorating after miraculously improving. He _is_ going to die."

Günter stared for a long time at the young healer who was giving this report in a terribly neutral and detached voice, then he let out a big sigh and his eyes misted up.

\- "I wish there was something we could do..." he said softly.

\- "But there isn't," said Terrence. "Now I need you to keep leading this team as if everything were perfectly normal. Calcifer says we're nearing the end of our journey, so if Al can stay on until the end, it will allow him to fulfill a dream. It won't be much, but it'll be more than most people do in their own time."

Günter glanced sadly at the others who were bringing cushions and chairs around a brazier in which Calcifer was lounging.

\- "Can I ask... what ails him exactly?"

Terrence inhaled deeply.

\- "I guess after all we've gone through, it doesn't make any difference," he muttered.

He put his hands in his white coat's pockets and sat on the base of one of the statues, between two huge gray stone feet.

\- "It's complicated. When he was a kid, they diagnosed him with some kind of fierce tuberculosis – except it couldn't be that, since he was not contagious at all. In record time, Al went through all stages of the disease – fever, coughing fits, weight loss – as if he had been suffering for months."

Günter sat next to the young man to listen better.

\- "At the time, they dismissed diseases his little pet dragon could have given him. There remained the possibility of degeneration of his instinctive magic, the consequences of a curse, maybe even a simple allergy to eternal glue: my tutor helped getting readings in his environment and he said the Weasley's workshop stunk so much of magic glue that he thought it was foolish to let such a young child play in it. But they found nothing conclusive. There was no cure either. They were completely powerless."

\- "But Albus healed."

\- "Yes. Just like that, overnight."

Terrence shrugged wearily.

\- "I don't know exactly what happened on the mountain, with the dragon and everything. In St. Mungo's, this case's an itching issue. The healers at the time were mortally miffed by Harry Potter's silence. To explain what happened, they scribbled on the sidelines of the file stuff like _folk remedy_ or _potential black magic intervention_. Maybe they weren't wrong..."

\- "The dragon? The mountain?" parroted Günter who did not understand. "You mean the dragon who... _lives_ with Albus was the one who healed him at the time?"

\- "It's complicated," Terrence said again. "In short, the symptoms are a little different with this relapse, so I was going with two souls that can't stand to share the same body, a bit like the werewolf flu, but..."

He nibbled on his lower lip.

\- "But actually… I think it's all very simple in the end: the dragon's leaving. After fourteen years of reprieve, Albus will finally die from whatever should have taken him when he was a child", he said in a very low voice.

He took a hand out of his pocket and rummaged through his blond hair.

\- "You must not feel guilty," Günter said softly. "You did everything you could."

The healer had a small, bitter smile.

\- "It doesn't make things any easier," he whispered.

He got up and went back to the group without waiting for his team leader. For a moment, the old man looked at this long lean back and those sagging shoulders that betrayed discouragement, then he sighed and went to sit with the others around the brazier.

After supper, they roasted marshmallows on Calcifer's purring back. There was something strangely comforting about this summer camp activity, a reassuring and soothing feeling of unity.

Christopher played some guitar, Vivienne sang some old ballads. Matilda fell asleep, curled into a ball in a chintz armchair. Euphrosine was knitting. Günter was sorting his notes and the stories told by the flames were dancing on his glasses.

There was no breath of air, no insect, not a star on the stone vault far above them, but one could have thought they were in a field at the end of the summer.

Wendy was sitting on a blanket with Albus' head on her lap, and was amusing herself with braiding her fiancé's tangled black hair. The young man coughed from time to time and Scorpius while pretending to be immersed in his daily report, kept throwing anxious glances at him.

\- "Strip, Potter," Terrence said as he came back from the Pumpkin, with his medicine bag. "But don't sit up."

Albus unbuttoned his shirt obediently, pausing only to catch his breath after another coughing fit.

The healer sat cross-legged next to him to unclip his bag. He took out a jar of ointment, unscrewed the lid and dipped his fingers in the greenish paste that gave off a strong smell of laurel, then began to apply it on his friend's bare chest.

\- "It's cold," Albus said with a slight flinch.

\- "In a moment, you'll feel like if it was a hot compress. It'll help you breathe better," Terrence said without stopping working.

His long flat fingers were tracing precise circles, massaging to smooth in the cream that shone on the pale skin of his patient.

\- "This stuff makes your eyes sting", said Scorpius, wrinkling his nose.

\- "I think it smells like inside _Greenhouse number 1_ ," Wendy said happily. "Remember when we were in Grade 6 and Terrence had bewitched that bogeyman? It had attended class for two days like a normal student."

\- "Professor Flitwick almost had an attack," Albus chuckled, his green eyes sparkling at the memory. " _Mr. Blenheim, it is not in my habit_..."

\- "... _to repeat myself three times_ ", completed the others in a chorus.

They burst out laughing.

\- "Poor man, he had such a shock when he lifted the scarecrow's hat, tearing its head in the process!"

\- "Miranda Brown was bawling like a polecat..."

\- "Craig was so mad he had shared his desk with it and not noticed anything!"

\- "Finnigan never was the sharpest tool in the shed."

\- "You had been summoned by the headmistress and we all had ended up weeding for a week. My hands were full of blisters", Scorpius growled, looking at his palms.

Terrence smeared his fingers again with laurel-ointment and resumed applying it, carefully avoiding the flower-shaped scar and the red letters on his friend's chest.

\- "Well, it's not my fault, you got grounded too," he said. "You didn't have to tell McGonagall you were with me on that stunt..."

\- "I had found the scarecrow," Wendy said.

\- "It was my idea to put him in school robes", Albus said.

\- "I didn't try to stop you", Scorpius said.

The others grinned at him widely.

\- "You were not a very _efficient_ prefect indeed," Terrence laughed. "I wonder if the teachers had chosen you in hope of maintaining some peace and quiet in the Gryffindor Tower..."

\- "If _that_ was their reason, they'd better have given the badge to Al", grunted the young blond man. "At least _he_ had some authority over Macmillan and Flinch-Fletchley – he was the one who stopped them from completing their _periscope of love_."

Wendy raised a questioning eyebrow, but the three boys were careful not to give explanations.

Albus changed positions, settling back on the blanket with a slight grimace. Terrence was done working. He wiped his hands on a handkerchief, put the jar of ointment in his medicine bag, then took out a thermometer which he stuffed into his patient's ear. Scorpius was watching him and had not noticed that his own fingers were drumming a nervous rhythm on his notebook.

\- "I think you were appointed prefect because you had the qualities of one," Albus said, reaching out to grab the government agent's wrist and stop the anxious twitch. "You always paid attention to the younger ones, you knew the rules and you knew why they had to be respected."

He smiled that warm smile that made you feel like you were special, important, essential.

\- "Even now, it's something I admire about you. Your sense of responsibility, the fact you never forget anyone."

Scorpius blushed but the other two nodded approvingly.

On the other side of the brazier in which Calcifer was rolling like a lazy cat, Günter was tidying up his notes. Christopher was yawning and he soon wished everybody good night. Vivienne had already gone to bed. Matilda was fast asleep in her armchair. Euphrosine was snoring softly, her chin resting on her chest, but her needles were still knitting on their own.

It was a little cooler now. Wendy buttoned up her fiancé's shirt and Terrence cleaned the thermometer.

\- "We were a handful, though," said Albus, who had not let go of the government agent's hand. "No wonder they chose a prefect with his head steady on his shoulders... Terrence was trying to blow up Hogwarts, Wendy was terrorizing the other Quidditch teams..."

\- "And you were there", blurted out Scorpius in a croaked voice.

\- "I was there", smiled the young man with emerald eyes. "I'm really happy I met you three."

The healer's expression turned hard as he tidied up his things.

\- "What's with the end of the world speech, Al?"

\- "I just wanted to say it, that's all. Why should we wait for special occasions to tell others how we feel? I'm really proud you're my friends. I would not be the same person, had I not met you..."

Wendy leaned over him. Her short brown hair swept on her face, hiding for a moment her misted eyes.

\- "Don't say stuff like that when you're sick. You'll make Scorpius freak out", she scolded gently.

\- "Oh. Sorry."

Albus leaned more comfortably on his fiancée's lap. His long dark lashes fluttered a bit. He felt himself won over by a pleasurable torpor born from the laurel scent and the warmth of the fire, but he did not want to give in right away.

\- "If you're tired, sleep," said Terrence, amused. "We're not going anywhere, you know."

Wendy nodded sharply and Scorpius briefly squeezed the hand he was still holding in the shadows.

\- "I'm not tired," Albus assured with a poorly suppressed yawn. "Let's talk about stuff. Let's talk about the Axis or about Jen Pendragon."

\- "At this hour of the night, I'd rather we talk about something else," shuddered the young mechanic. "Let's talk about snow or fire-tailed foxes. We've not seen any for now."

\- "I'm sure they only went through the first well," said the government agent. "Sucked in a straight line from the North Pole."

\- "They'd have never made it to Antarctica if they'd have to look for their way out in this maze…"

\- "By the way, Scorpius, did you write down the directions we took, as we went?" Terrence asked. With a flick of his wand, he made his medicine bag disappear off and instead invoked a blanket that he spread over Albus' legs. "Because I was wondering _how_ we move in relation to the surface... is the Axis a parallel plane of existence we've entered, another dimension, or are we currently underneath Africa or in the middle of the Pacific?"

The others opened wide eyes at this.

\- "I suppose, with magic, we can't rule out the possibility we could be in some sort of a prism with superimposed levels", continued the young man, playing absently with the tip of his blonde ponytail, his blue eyes lost in an ocean of conjunctures behind his round glasses. "But maybe it's as simple as what the Ancients imagined and we're just travelling through a land beneath the surface of the planet..."

Scorpius handed him his notebook.

\- "Latitudes and longitudes are marked daily. Well, the astrolabe can't really be trusted, according to Vivienne. She says it's blocked on a star that doesn't exist. I think she's _very_ frustrated."

Terrence grinned mysteriously.

\- "Vivienne will have the shock of her life when she'll get it," he said.

He flipped through the notebook for a moment, under the intrigued gaze of the other three, then looked up.

\- "I'll try to make a map from that," he said thoughtfully. "With the help of Euphrosine, we might be able to trace the outline of a continent."

He looked again at the pages covered with Scorpius' elegant writing, then gave back the notebook.

\- "Anyway, it's really _exciting_ to read you", he said in a sincere tone. "I thought your writing was more... er..."

\- "Boring?" suggested the government agent, ironically.

\- "No, but... more regulation oriented. Facts, dates, no feeling, something like that. But it feels like a novel and yet, from the little I read, you never went overboard. If I were the bloke reading you at the Ministry of Magic, I'd love to receive reports written this way!"

Scorpius shrugged.

\- "He thinks I'm extravagant."

\- "It's true you've always been good at writing," Albus said admiringly. "When you were doing versions in _Ancient Runes_ , your translations were ten times prettier than the others'."

\- "His dissertations too," Wendy added warmly. "Once I borrowed his _Magic History_ assignment and I completely forgot why after reading it. It was captivating!"

\- "I wish you'd been our teacher instead of Professor Binns," Terrence groaned. "If he didn't have such a soporific voice, I could have obtained O in all subjects of the ASPIC."

Scorpius snorted.

\- "In that case, we should thank him. Your head's big enough, it doesn't need to grow some more."

Albus chuckled and nearly choked on a sudden fit of coughing. Everyone hurried to help him. Once the crisis had passed, they resettled as before and the silence cocooned them like a reassuring blanket.

Calcifer was sleeping in the fire. Golden sparks were swirling up to the stone vault.

\- "When you're fed up with the _Department of Mysteries_ , you can always start a career as a writer, Scorp," Wendy said after a moment, cocking her head.

The young blond man tightened his arm around his knees.

\- "I don't know," he mumbled. "I'm not sure I'd be good enough…"

Albus fumbled for the hand he was holding a few minutes earlier. He smiled.

\- "Well, _we_ know. We'd love to read you. You could tell all about our adventures in the Axis and publish a book."

\- "And then they'd put him behind bars for revealing state secrets", Terrence giggled.

The mechanic glared at him.

\- "Be a little serious."

Günter came to them, bypassing the brazier and startled them. At some point, Matilda and Euphrosine must have had woken up and gone to bed, their armchairs were empty.

\- "I'm going to bed", announced the team leader. "Don't stay up too late, a long day is waiting for us tomorrow."

\- "I'll make sure we're reasonable," Terrence said.

\- "I'll extinguish the fire," Scorpius said.

\- "I'll get Calcifer to come in," Wendy said.

\- "Good night", Albus said.

Günter took a step towards the Pumpkin, then changed his mind. His sorcerer's robes swept the dusty ground as he turned around. His soft eyes were smiling behind his glasses.

\- "I also think you've got talent, Scorpius," he said kindly. "Don't underestimate yourself."

The agent of the government blushed for the second time of the evening, while the others laughed.

Günter walked away, folding his hands behind his back. His shoulders were sore from leaning over the sketches of the fresco for hours, but he did not regret the fatigue. He could have gone to bed much sooner, but he had found himself listening to the chatting of the four young wizards, marveling again at the friendship that bound them.

He had almost felt the familiar presence of Pepper by his side, as if the old house elf had been there too, perched on a stool with a big cup of hot chocolate, shaking his head at Terrence's ranting.

The heart of the team leader knotted painfully.

 _They_ had _to make it out alive._

 _All of them._

 _It was not possible to imagine separating them, not after all they had gone through together..._

He put on his night clothes and peeked through the window before going to bed.

The brazier was still burning in the darkness and the group had not moved.

Terrence was drawing bright shapes with his wand. Wendy was gobbling up rainbow beans. Next to her, Albus was propped up on some cushions, laughing in between small coughing fits. Scorpius was telling them something.

Günter smiled tenderly. For a second, he thought he had seen a silhouette in the smoke rising up towards the stone vault. A shower of sparks outlining a majestic neck, the graceful curve of a black wing...

He shook his head, his mind clouded with sleep, dropped the curtain and yawned widely under his cotton cap.

He was already asleep when his cheek touched the pillow.

The next morning, when Günter came out of the Pumpkin, stretching, his stomach gurgling at the delicious smell of the pancakes Vivienne was making, the fire was reduced to the state of silky gray ash. Calcifer had sunk in it and looked like a red ember chick. He was still asleep, letting out little puffs that were ridiculous for such a powerful creature.

The Hogwarts Four had obviously _forgotten_ to go to bed.

Among the blankets and cushions sprinkled with crumbs of biscuits and candy wrappings, Terrence was spread out, his glasses across his face, his blond hair scattered around him, his mouth half open. Wendy was under his arm, snuggled against Albus who was lying on his back and seemed to be purring softly in his sleep. Scorpius was curled up on the other side, his knees folded under his chin like a child, holding his friend's hand against his cheek.

Günter chuckled, then decided to wake them up before Christopher did so in a very fun but not so friendly way.

After breakfast, they hit the road again. Albus' cough seemed under control and the mood was good. The Pumpkin was happily rattling her mandibles in Wendy's tousled hair and Matilda was telling an absolutely crazy dream she had, making them laugh until their bellies ached.

Then they reached the end of the alley of giant stone statues and found themselves facing a high wall.

There was nothing, no gate, no tunnel, no hole in the ceiling, only a big mirror circled in gold on the gray ground, big enough to reflect a carriage.

Christopher brushed it with his fingertips to try to determine its material, and the glossy surface flinched slightly, casting a shimmering shadow on the stone vault over their heads.

It was made of _water_ and, apparently, it was the only way out.

* * *

 ** _TO BE CONTINUED_**

* * *

 ** _Next chapter_** ** _:_** ** _THE GIRL, THE STAR & THE WIZARD_**


	23. The Girl, the Star and the Wizard

**THE GIRL, THE STAR & THE WIZARD**

* * *

They shared a series of worried looks.

\- "The Pumpkin's no submarine," Wendy said.

\- "We can't hold our breaths forever," said Vivienne. "We can't go in there without knowing _where_ and _when_ we'll come out."

\- "Calcifer's g-g-going to g-g-get wet," Matilda stuttered.

Terrence dipped his hand in the mirror and pulled it out perfectly dry.

\- " _Aqua Vitae_ ," Günter whispered, his eyes widening.

\- "What does it mean?" Christopher grumbled. "Oh, well, whatever. I'm sure I won't like it."

\- "We'll be able to breathe in there", explained the old man. "Well, according to theory, at least, we _should_ be able to. This is also called _Kouki_ : drink of the gods or water of life."

\- "It is indeed no ordinary water," Euphrosine confirmed gently. "We'll be perfectly fine, don't you worry."

She turned to Calcifer, who was floating beside her like a red flame.

\- "Ready?" she asked.

\- "Ready", muttered the little daemon, strangely timid.

\- "Wait", interjected Albus, who had been tilting his head for a moment, listening to something. "Have you been in there before? There's a _sound_ in this water, some kind of song... and I don't trust it."

The old witch smiled.

\- "You can hear the song? I'm impressed. But we won't be in danger. Not this time."

She turned to Wendy.

\- "Everything'll be alright. The Pumpkin has already done the diving", she explained.

Günter cleared his throat.

\- "Am I right to believe that we'll have to swallow the water to be able to breathe?" he asked.

\- "You're right," said Euphrosine. "It's not a very pleasant experience, but it doesn't last long."

There was a strange gleam in her blue eyes. A fever that could have been from childish excitement as well as from fanaticism.

Scorpius shuddered. He carefully wrapped his notebook in a handkerchief on which he cast a waterproofing spell, and then he slid into the pool.

The water was lukewarm. It wrapped around his legs with the consistency of a smoothie.

He took a deep breath, pinched his nose out of habit, then let himself sink, closing his eyes, without causing the slightest splash. He held his breath for as long as he could, and when his lungs began to burn, he opened his mouth and gasped, swallowing the thick water.

It fizzled on his tongue. He blinked in surprise and met Terrence's amused gaze.

\- "It tastes like cider," said the healer.

His words echoed in a muffled way and Scorpius chuckled, as if the alcoholic taste of the water was getting to his head.

\- "We can talk!" he grinned. "It's amazing! We can breathe and we can _talk_!"

Bubbles were frothing around his face and flying to the surface of the golden circle above him.

They were in what looked like a gigantic underwater cave. They were slowly descending to the bottom and the water seemed to glow instead of darkening.

The strata of rocks shone of a transparent ice-blue, like turquoise jelly, drawing out alveoli through which one could see the brisk passage of a swarm of silver fish. A cold current swept away to the depths some glistening grains of sand and the distant echo of a melancholic song.

Scorpius wondered if that sound was the one Albus had heard and he looked around for his friend.

The magizoologist was taking notes about the aquatic fauna, not realizing that the ink was spiraling out of the bottle floating next to him.

Not far away, Matilda was strumming on a row of anemones that were retracting in turn and in tune. Her long hair was unfurling like algae in the water, but it looked much more beautiful and silky than in open air. The diaphanous skin of the botanist was shining and it was not hard to imagine that she could have Mermaid's blood.

Vivienne's flaming hair was sprawled around her face as she examined, perplexed, the dissenting astrolabe and the confused compass.

Christopher was engaged in various underwater experiments such as eating a sandwich or trying to produce a flame with his wand.

The Pumpkin was swimming like a drowning spider and Wendy, taking pity on her machine, finally sat on it to guide it. Starfish were stuck on the belly of the golden vehicle and tiny crabs ran in between the bolts.

Euphrosine and Calcifer were already almost at the bottom, followed by Günter who was pushing on his legs like a frog to go faster.

Terrence, who was right behind them, suddenly uttered an astonished exclamation.

There was a _city_ at the bottom of the cave, in the bluish darkness.

Tall marble columns around which were intertwined garlands of agile silversides, an immense acropolis bathed in hazy azure light, vast stairways flanked by ox statues with stone discs between their horns. Enfilades of empty streets where sardines were hasting away and houses with domed roofs above which slowly floated a gray creature that looked like a whale, but breathed out clouds of golden bubbles.

When Euphrosine set foot on the ground, at the bottom of the steps that were rising to a an imposing temple, something shuddered and bright blue flames shot one after the other in the series of braziers posted each side of the stairs. Small fish scrambled away in a blur of sand and water, then came back, intrigued, to timidly peck the green sparks.

\- "So this is Atlantis..." Günter gasped.

\- "Maybe," said the old witch. "Or maybe not."

The others landed next to them, somewhat troubled by the muffled silence that reigned over the sunken city. They did not dare to suggest exploring the site or camping on the spot to understand why they could breathe here. It felt like if they should not linger. They climbed the stairs behind Euphrosine, in procession, followed by the Pumpkin which seemed uncomfortable and was rattling mandibles frantically.

\- "If it's an old c-c-city of the Rea… of _them_ , should we not b-b-be careful?" Matilda mumbled, getting closer to Vivienne, glancing at the moving shadow of the whale.

\- "No, _they_ are afraid of water," Calcifer said brusquely.

\- "Well, this isn't exactly _water_..." Christopher grumbled.

Wendy was watching anxiously as Albus struggled up the stairs on his crutches, pausing regularly to catch his breath or cough.

\- "M' not sure that "breathing" this _aqua vitae_ is particularly recommended when one has lungs in the state of his", mumbled Terrence, sharing a worried look with Scorpius.

Günter trailed at the back of the group or galloped in front, often rummaging in his gray and thick hair, talking to himself.

There were many inscriptions on the walls. Some in Greek, others in Latin, others in rune or cuneiform writing.

Everything seemed frozen in an eternal sleep.

They passed in front of a very damaged fresco and recognized the same figures they had seen on the one in the pterodactyls' hills. It was engraved on a very porous stone wall and a large part of it was missing, devoured by time. Brilliant filaments highlighted the silhouettes with raised arms that welcomed the stars, and the best-preserved drawing was that of a man bringing to his mouth something that looked like a burning heart.

Euphrosine looked at it for a long time, with a terribly sad gaze, then kept climbing the stairs. Calcifer was flying above her shoulder, crackling a little, as if he was approaching his limit: it was certainly not natural for a fire daemon to burn underwater.

Günter shot a last look of envy at the fresco, then followed suit, followed by Matilda who kept glancing around her. The others lingered for a moment.

\- "The end is missing," Christopher said thoughtfully. "That's why Jen Pendragon thought he could get that power..."

\- "One doesn't go into such an experiment without thinking it through," Terrence retorted. "He probably knew he didn't have all the data on hand, but he took the risk. That was stupid."

\- "Maybe he was trying to impress the woman he loved..." suggested Vivienne softly.

\- "Maybe it was stronger than him..." whispered Albus.

He turned around, tilted his head aside as if he was listening to something, then frowned.

\- "Let's keep moving. I don't like this song at all."

Scorpius had trouble understanding why. The melody was tenuous, very far away. It gave out a feeling of nostalgia and seemed perfectly harmless.

\- "Do you think it's the whale singing?" asked Wendy, looking up at the creature moving languidly over them, leaving behind a trail of golden bubbles.

As in response, the cetacean uttered a long plaintive whine.

\- "No", said Albus.

\- "No," said Scorpius at the same moment.

Terrence looked at him, surprised.

\- "Can you hear it too?"

The government agent shrugged and fended off a small silver fish that was pecking the seams of his jacket.

\- "They're waiting for us," he said, pointing at Günter and Matilda who had stopped at the top of the stairs, at the foot of the two large columns that marked the entrance to the temple.

They hastened to them. From a far, Euphrosine, who was standing just a few steps aside, looked to be in a schmooze with Calcifer, but when the rest of the group came closer, they realized these two were trembling like two dead leaves.

\- "This time, it's over," stammered the old woman, tears in her eyes.

\- "I'm not sure I want it to be the end," squeaked the daemon, squirming pathetically.

Matilda and Vivienne looked at them with confusion, but Wendy stepped forward and hugged Euphrosine.

\- "I don't know what's going to happen, but we'll be with you," she promised.

Christopher took a step forward and patted the bristling sparks on Calcifer's head.

\- "Be brave, pal", he said gruffly.

Albus and Günter nodded gravely. Terrence was stepping in the darkness of the temple.

Inside, there was nothing but a huge empty marble throne, around which swirled a swarm of fish with scales sparkling in the turquoise light that filled the room.

At the foot of the throne was a circle of gold similar to the one they had discovered in the alley of the stone giants, but opaque and dark as a drop of night.

Euphrosine reached out to the person closest to her and, with her chin, indicated they should do the same. Calcifer disappeared inside the Pumpkin and Wendy made sure that the spell that bound her to her machine was well set.

Then they all jumped together in the mirror...

... and came out, wet and shivering, in a low ice cave on the sides of which shimmered the reflections of bright blue water.

With clattering teeth and purple lips, Wendy immediately levitated the sinking vehicle to a dry place, before climbing with the others onto the strange, smooth, white beach that was in front of them.

\- "This is made of _diamond_!" Christopher said very excitedly, after patting the floor with his ice ax and doing some surveys with his wand. "And not just any kind, it's graphite morphed by the impact of an asteroid!"

His hair was dripping and he was shivering, but he did not seem to notice it, marveling at this discovery.

\- "Everyone gets into dry clothes, as fast as you can!" Terrence ordered, running from Euphrosine, who was wobbling on her legs, to Albus who was leaning on Scorpius and choking like if he was about to die.

Vivienne swore and began to blow hot air on her red hair that was already indecently frizzling.

Matilda was shuddering violently, but it was not because of the forced cold bath they had just taken. Eyes wide, Günter and her were staring at the cavern that opened before them. It was a hall worthy of the _Tales From A Thousand And One Night_ , as dazzling as the palace of the Snow Queen. Nothing was smooth except for the small beach. Clear crystal cones of all sizes sprang up from everywhere, glossing, catching the slightest reflection of the blue water – a boundless beauty that left no room for logic, a magnificent and sparkling disorder, a glossy jumble of flowers made of glass.

There was a soft buzzing sound, peaceful and out of time, as if billions of butterflies were flapping their wings somewhere, or hundreds of babies were quietly bubbling in their sleep.

 _And, in every diamond, was throbbing a burning heart._

When Wendy realized it, she slowly let go of the door handle of the Pumpkin, holding her breath as if the place was sacred.

\- "Oh," she stammered, looking at Calcifer, who was dancing lightly in the air, like a Bunsen burner flame, his unfathomable eyes riveted on the ice cocoons.

\- "Stars ..." Vivienne muttered, letting her wand fall without worrying about her tangled curls. "They're _stars_... these are _the_ stars, the ones that disappeared..."

Terrence straightened up, letting go of Albus, who staggered. Scorpius caught him. The healer seemed to be subjugated.

\- "Amazing..." he whispered. "A nursery of knowledge... at our fingertips..."

The government agent put the sick young man's arm around his shoulders to hold him up.

\- "Are we there, then? Is this the heart of the Axis? The center of the Earth? Does it mean the stars were the Shufflers of Light?" he whispered.

Albus shook his head weakly.

\- "No", he said. "They aren't."

Calcifer turned around and let go of a funny little laugh, an echo of his ironic sneer that seemed broken by too much emotion.

\- "The dragon child is right", he said. "The Shufflers of Light dwell deeper in the Axis. You'll meet them, because the eyes that wanted to see must now come back to them, but first you'll have to say goodbye."

Terrence flinched. Matilda stifled a small squeak. Scorpius tightened his arm around Albus' back. Wendy turns pale. Christopher swallowed hard. Vivienne pursed her lips. Günter looked like he was about to say something, but did not speak.

Her white hair still wet, her old legs still shaking, Euphrosine stepped towards the daemon. There was deep kindness on her wrinkled face, and she smiled as she reached out to the little fire creature who settled in her arms.

\- "Will you let me tell them our story?" she asked.

Calcifer curled into a ball, purring.

\- "Yes, since we are now at the end."

The witch turned to the others and they sat down, wrapping themselves in the blankets Terrence had magically conjured up. The ground was cold, but not like hard snow, and it seemed to warm up after a while.

The blue water was lapping gently against the transparent crystals, giving them a shimmering turquoise glint.

Euphrosine closed her eyes and they did like her, breathing slowly in rhythm with the heartbeat of the stars.

Then the old woman opened her eyes again and, for the first time in a hundred years, she spoke of the exploration of the Axis in 1927.

They had followed a different road, been to other strange places, seen other mysteries, before reaching the sunken city.

Jen Pendragon had studied the _Journey to the Center of the Earth – To The Heart of Extraordinary Secrets and Back Again – The Diary of an Ordinary Wizard_ in fro and through. He was convinced that in descending into the depths of Antarctica, he would discover a power beyond imagination: the source of magic itself, embodied by the golden breath of an immortal creature that one could not describe with words but had been represented in the form of a dragon.

Arne Saknussemm had recounted his meeting with wise and powerful beings of great purity who lived "on the other side of the Gate that leads to all the secrets" and who were watching over "the good order of things".

But he had not spoken of the cave where the stars slept in ice cocoons, nor of the tragic fate of the Reapers. In fact, he had referred several times to "deadly events in the past" and mentioned the impartial severity of the Shufflers of Light, but he had not developed the subject, like if he was afraid of stirring up their anger.

So, when Pendragon's team had discovered the fresco in the sunken city, Jen had been convinced that it was a sign of fate, a message left for men who wished to access a new plane of knowledge, if they were brave and crazy enough to dare pick a star.

No one had suspected that the song they had listened to during the long hours of study beneath the surface of the Golden Circle could have altered their will, lured them into a trap, lead them to their doom...

They also went through the temple to continue their journey and found themselves in the crystal cave.

And it was there, then, that the fate of a girl, a wizard and a star had been sealed.

* * *

Euphrosine paused in her story to stroke Calcifer's purring head and catch her breath. The others were hanging on that quavering, emotionally loaded voice. There was fear on some faces, a passionate interest on others and sadness in the eyes of Albus and Günter.

* * *

All the stars were sleeping and dreaming, except for one.

When Jen had started whistling absent-mindedly the melody heard dozens of times in the sunken city, that little star had fluttered out of her cocoon, a clear red flame, innocent and friendly, curious as a cat.

It had played in Euphrosine's petticoats, grazed her straw hat adorned with camellias, had a bite of bacon and perched on Pendragon's shoulder to hear him recite poems. It wasn't answering their questions about the secrets of Antarctica and kept shirking their tries to grab it with a tinkling giggle.

Then Jen had looked at his notes once more and, humming the strange song in a low voice without even noticing he was doing so, he had sought a way to get what he had come for. Maybe he thought the star would allow them to reach the Shufflers of Light, or perhaps had he already been corrupted by the old magic of the Reapers... no one would ever know. He had finally found a spell in the bas-relief of the fresco and read it aloud. First in English, which had had no effect, then in Greek and finally simply pronouncing the runes one after the other.

Then the ice cave had shaken. The crystal cocoons had darkened, as if turning into obsidian, and the tamed star had started panicking like an insect trapped under a lamp. Its heart was throbbing rapidly in the flames and Jen Pendragon had seized it in his hands, determined to swallow it like in the drawings he had studied for hours.

* * *

\- "He believed he would become one with the star. We had no idea how much suffering it would cause. We did not understand that it was a _living_ creature and that we were going to enslave it and kill it..."

Euphrosine was speaking with effort and large drops of sweat were streaming down her forehead. Terrence, fascinated by the story, did not seem to notice it, so Wendy leaned over and handed a glass of water to the old woman, who shook her head before continuing her story.

* * *

Jen Pendragon had brought the heart to his mouth, determined to go through with the experience despite the threatening whirring of the crystal cocoons and the growing red and bright flames that were bursting forth between his fingers.

Then everything had become chaos.

In the young man's throat, a light had swollen, alive and burning. Darkness had filled the ice cave. The ground was shaking and a big dark wave had risen on the water. Then Arne Saknussemm's book had caught fire and Jen Pendragon's body had been devoured in a sharp glow and a heart-wrenching scream.

Then Euphrosine had found herself alone on the white beach, surrounded by the still smoking bones of the other members of her team.

The turquoise water was gleaming on the crystal cones and they were all empty.

There was nothing left of Pendragon or of the _Journey to the Center of the Earth – To The Heart of Extraordinary Secrets and Back Again – The Diary of an Ordinary Wizard_ , not even a few flakes of ashes.

The only other living creature with her was a panting, exhausted, little star that had no heart and whose tears were melting the diamond beach.

* * *

\- Then, I don't remember what happened... I wandered in the maze with Calcifer...

* * *

He had guided her to the mysterious railway, but had not warned her not to look back. She had stopped many times, turned around, thinking she'd heard Jen's voice calling her. She had found the lamppost, the boat, cut off the tip of her long chestnut braid to pay for the passage on Calcifer's advice, and at dawn she had been setting foot on the ice-floe.

Only then had the daemon glared at her with his ember eyes and told her the truth.

 _She was doomed to stay forever in Antarctica. Her heart was prisoner of the Axis and she would never die or be able to leave._

He had sealed the pact, making sure she could not talk about what had happened and burst into a sardonic laugh that had broken into a sob.

She had cried with him, cradling the little fire creature that was throbbing with pain and bitterness, and she had resolved to return one day to the depths of the Earth, to find a solution, to bring back her fiancé and to give back her freedom to the star.

But the Shufflers of Light had decided otherwise.

 _Renounce._

They had warned them before, they warned her again. And the message never changed in a hundred years.

In 1937, the Gate did not open.

Nor in 1947.

In 1957, when the Shufflers decided to shut themselves from the world after the Japanese dogs were left behind, Euphrosine was old enough to understand why they did so, even though she had not yet abandoned her resolve. She did not want another tragedy to happen and prevented the rest of her team from going deeper into the Axis before they would be engulfed by its magic. Rina Kettle, who had cross-checked documents and conversations, had figured that Jen Pendragon had been engaged to Euphrosine and she thought the witch had deliberately provoked this failure.

Some terrible arguments happened, reproaches, endless reports, and the government nearly abandoned the Base.

Euphrosine remained alone in Antarctica for several months.

Then a new team arrived. They tried to move Calcifer who had taken a liking for the boiler room and built an obsidian nest for himself, but the Scarlet Tower almost collapsed. Other sorcerer scientists came after them, than others, and so the years went by.

There were no more aurora borealis and because of that, people thought the Shufflers of Light had disappeared. Calcifer and Euphrosine just shrugged.

Pretty fire-tailed foxes were rolling playfully in the snow on the old continent.

In 1967, the Gate did not open.

Nor in 1977.

Euphrosine heard rumors about a dark wizard who was sowing terror and she supposed the Shufflers kept the Gate shut to protect the order of the world from such a threat. She came to terms with her fate. She learned to knit, to cast spells to relieve her rheumatic pains, to drink herbal tea instead of coffee. She was still wearing a blue dress that had long been outmoded.

Twenty years passed again.

Then Günter and Pepper came out of the aerostat that was bringing supplies and they greeted the very old witch. They were fun, a bit weird, warm, simple. She liked them right away.

 _And Calcifer, strangely, liked them too._

Voldemort fell for the second time and the whole world celebrated Harry Potter. In Antarctica, Euphrosine began to watch for signs of the opening of the Axis.

But in 2007, she struggled against the curse that kept her mouth shut, she could not help the members of her team to find the Gate before time was up. She wanted to scream that it was their fault, but a look at Günter, overwhelmed with shame, stopped her.

She wept bitterly over her hand on which the cursed word had appeared again.

As for Calcifer, he was singing in his fireplace. He said something strange, which he refused to explain.

 _Nobody had gone in, but someone had come out._

The interest of the Shufflers of Light had been stung by an event somewhere in the world. They had seen something beautiful. Something unusual. Something precious that needed to be protected.

In 2017, at winter solstice, the Gate remained closed.

Euphrosine celebrated Christmas in the green living room with Günter and Pepper. She finally felt like she had a family. She was at peace.

Jen Pendragon was sleeping in his ice coffin under Antarctica and maybe it wasn't necessary to wake him up after all. Calcifer did not seem unhappy, in the company of the house elf. Everything was fine.

But the year of the hundredth anniversary, the asterolines began to bloom underwater. The ice shivered in joyous impatience, the stars shone in the firmament, the Shadow Nibblers stirred in the boiler room.

The fatal word appeared again on Euphrosine's hand.

But this time she knew what she had to do.

* * *

There was a long silence when the witch finished speaking. Matilda was sniffling and Vivienne quickly wiped her eyes. Christopher tried not to give in to his emotion and jumped when Günter blew his nose next to him.

Terrence leaned forward.

\- "So?" he asked. "What are you going to do, then?"

Euphrosine's periwinkle orbs gleamed as she looked into the sky blue eyes of the healer.

She smiled.

\- "Sometimes to _renounce_ is simply to accept that nothing can be done. And, often, it takes more courage to do that than to strive on for a cause already lost. I shouldn't have sworn I'd get Jen back. It was not possible. _He is dead_. You don't cheat death, unless you want the cursed existence of that dark lord who was oppressing the world a few years ago."

\- "Lord Voldemort," whispered Scorpius.

\- "Yes, him. I couldn't remember his name. Your father defeated him, isn't it, Albus?"

The young man nodded.

\- "Yes. They were linked to each other. It was his destiny."

\- "Destiny is something we create by our choices," said the old woman with a soft smile.

She stood up on her wobbly legs, dusted her petticoats while still holding Calcifer like a baby on her arm.

\- "Wendy, do you mind giving me my hat? It's with my bag" she said.

She put it nicely on her head. The strands of straw that only magic still held together creaked a bit. The camellias matched her eyes.

\- "Come on. It's about time", she called in a happy voice.

She turned to the diamond cones in which the stars were sleeping and took a long breath.

\- "Wait," said Calcifer.

He flew off her embrace. His flame grew dazzling. When they could open their eyes again without being blinded, a young man with a golden complexion and bright red hair was standing in front of the very old woman. He had strange triangular eyes in which was dancing a fire.

\- "Oh," said Euphrosine.

And a rosy tint came to her diaphanous cheeks.

\- "Before we go, there's one thing you need to know," said Calcifer, not caring about the stunned looks of the rest of the team.

\- "He could do _that_!" hissed Christopher to Terrence in a vaguely envious tone.

The healer shrugged, laughing.

\- "That's one pretty boy", Vivienne whispered to Matilda who turned crimson.

\- "He looks a little like you," Wendy told Albus.

\- "He doesn't look like his last appearance at all, when we were in the abyss and he played ghost," Scorpius frowned.

\- "That's because he put on Jen Pendragon's face that day," Günter said in a low voice. "Silence, all of you. This is their farewells, let them have some privacy..."

They backed to the Pumpkin, and watched them from afar.

They were not afraid.

There was something like a lullaby in the happy buzz of the sleeping stars.

\- "I'm sorry I killed them," said Calcifer. "But I'm not sorry I trapped you here."

\- "I understand," said Euphrosine.

The daemon shook his head.

\- "No, you don't understand. I didn't do it for revenge because Pendragon had taken my heart. I did it because I wanted _you_ to stay with me always."

He had a slightly impatient chin gesture, and yellow flames grew in his crimson hair.

\- "I love you, Euphrosine," he said in his usual spoiled-child voice. "I think I've loved you since I opened my eyes for the first time."

She looked at him for a moment with irises like saucers, then she giggled. Her teeth clattered and her old bones crackled happily.

\- "Silly boy," she said.

Calcifer grimaced.

\- "You don't take me seriously. I guess it's only justice", he grumbled.

\- "Yes it is," she said, wiping her eyes. "You've been calling me _stupid girl_ or _old crone_ for a hundred years! I've never seen such a ridiculous romantic strategy. Even Jen had done better."

\- "I know he was better at everything", pouted the daemon. "Nobody could tell poems better than him. All the stars had to lean toward Earth when he was courting you."

Euphrosine was still laughing and he glanced at her shyly, some light blue blooming on his fire cheeks.

\- "Are you going to kiss me?" he asked, full of hope. "In fairy tales, the princess..."

\- "I won't," said Euphrosine firmly.

\- " _Tch_ ", he grunted.

She looked at his disappointed face for a moment, then opened her arms.

\- "Come here", she said warmly.

He hugged her fiercely. For a second, she was engulfed in flames, then the others distinctly saw her back straighten, her breasts bounce up, her hair unroll in a long chestnut braid, her blue dress dance on slender and healthy legs. The wrinkles faded from her face, her brow bone softened, her nose and chin reshaped, her mouth became as full and round as a cherry.

She smiled.

They distinctly heard a quiet and strong heartbeat, like that of someone who does not doubt.

Then they had to hide from the light again and the next time they opened their eyes, there was nothing on the white beach, except for a straw hat adorned with blue camellias.

Wendy went to pick it up, but it crumbled between her fingers like a handful of ashes.

\- "Where are t-t-they?" Matilda mumbled. "What hap-p-pened?"

\- "It's over," said Günter in a croaked voice. "That long wait, those regrets... it's over. Pepper would be proud."

\- "Did they _die_?" asked Christopher.

Vivienne slapped his arm.

\- "They went to a better place," she replied, wiping her eyes. "Somewhere they'll be happy forever."

\- "Technically, I think when Euphrosine gave him her heart, she disappeared", corrected Terrence. "She was only a hundred-year-old echo, after all. As for Calcifer, I suppose he went back among his people to wait for the Renewal..."

\- "That's what she did? I didn't get that", Christopher grumbled.

Vivienne rolled her eyes.

\- "You're such a boor," she sighed. "I pity the woman who will marry you."

Günter sat next to the tapestry bag and patted it. He took off his glasses and cleaned them, his eyes lost in contemplation of the turquoise water.

Wendy was searching the crystal cocoons for a star looking like the rude and endearing little daemon.

\- "I'll miss them," she muttered, swallowing her tears. "Are we all going to disappear? _Why_ is the Axis taking our companions one after the other? If _that_ is the big lesson the Shufflers want to teach us, I'm sorry I came..."

Albus, who was right behind her, froze. Something passed over his face, then disappeared.

Terrence, who was looking at him at that moment, was the only one to see this brief expression.

\- "Don't cry. I'm sure we'll see Calcifer again", Albus said, dropping one of his crutches to put an arm on the girl's shoulders. "He'll blink so brightly in the sky we won't confuse him with another star."

Wendy hid her face against his chest, snuggling in the comfort of his warmth.

\- "I'm so glad you're here with me… Don't' go anywhere without me, okay?"

He did not answer, just kissed the top of her head.

The others were searching for directions. The crystal cones seemed to have moved and a passage had opened in the ice forest.

They decided to go in it right away. None of them wanted to spend the night in the cave where the stars were sleeping.

\- "Ah," said Vivienne suddenly. "The astrolabe just stopped working, it's..."

She paused and her mouth made an O.

\- "So it was _him_ ," she stammered under the amused gazes of the others. "From the _beginning_ , the star on which the astrolabe was aligning was this... this..."

\- "Calcifer," Terrence suggested.

\- "This _unbearable_ creature!" the astronomer exploded as the rest of the team burst out laughing, finally letting go of the tension and sadness of the last hours. "That nasty little... _demon_! Could he not tell me it was _him_ we were following?"

\- "I reckon he thought it was one great, last trick," Günter said, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses. "Come on, let's go. We still have a long way to go before we find the Shufflers of Light."

He was the last to enter the ice tunnel, after taking a last look at the diamond beach and the glinting turquoise water.

\- "Good night, Calcifer. Goodbye, Euphrosine", he whispered. "Thanks for all these years – for your friendship. I couldn't have started my life again without Pepper and you two..."

He sighed, then followed his team.

He did not see the star twinkling like if it was answering him, in one of the crystal cones.

* * *

 ** _Next chapter:_** **_THE_** **_BRIDGE OF SIGHS_**


End file.
